06 September 2004	Monday	20 Rajab 1425

LONDON, Sept 5: Sweden made no mistake with a 7-0 flier over Malta but other big guns including European champions Greece, former champions France, England, Denmark and Turkey all failed to successfully take off when the serious World Cup qualifying action began across Europe on Saturday.

Sweden crushed Malta in their opening Group Eight match in Ta'Qali with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring four times including a hat trick in the opening 14 minutes. But Greece, playing their first competitive match since being crowned European champions in July, crashed 2-1 at northern neighbours Albania whose fans celebrated the Group Two victory as if they had qualified for the finals themselves.

England, seeking to restore the glories of long-ago rather than maintain any recent successes, appeared to be heading for victory in their opening Group Six match by leading Austria 2-0 with 19 minutes to play in Vienna but ended up drawing 2-2.

Goals from Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard looked to have given England all three points but Austria took advantage of two errors of judgment by goalkeeper David James to grab a point.

RESULTS:

Finland 3 Andorra 0

Romania 2 Macedonia 1

Denmark 1 Ukraine 1

Turkey 1 Georgia 1

Albania 2 Greece 1

Russia 1 Slovakia 1

Latvia 0 Portugal 2

Estonia 4 Luxembourg 0

Ireland 3 Cyprus 0

France 0 Israel 0

Switzerland 6 Faroe Islands 0

Italy 2 Norway 1

Slovenia 3 Moldova 0

Northern Ireland 0 Poland 3

Azerbaijan 1 Wales 1

Austria 2 England 2

Belgium 1 Lithuania 1

San Marino 0 Serbia & Montenegro 3

Iceland 1 Bulgaria 3

Croatia 3 Hungary 0

Malta 0 Sweden 7. -Reuters