NYON (Switzerland): Antonio Conte and Guus Hiddink experienced contrasting fortunes in their first competitive games in charge of Italy and the Netherlands in their respective Euro 2016 qualifiers on Tuesday.

Simone Zaza and Leonardo Bonucci were on target to give Italy a 2-0 win in Norway and make it a dream start for Conte, who replaced Cesare Prandelli after he resigned following the Azzurri’s first-round exit at the World Cup.

The result in Group ‘H’ also saw the Italians extend their impressive unbeaten record in qualifying to 41 games, stretching back eight years.

Meanwhile, a late goal from Vaclav Pilar saw Hiddink’s Netherlands slip to a 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic in Prague.

That meant it was a disappointing start to his second spell in charge of the national side for Hiddink, who filled the vacancy left by Louis van Gaal after he led the Oranje to third place at the World Cup.

However, with the top two in each group automatically qualifying for the finals in France and play-offs for the third-placed teams the Dutch should still have no problem in advancing from Group ‘A’.

Pressure, though, will be growing on Safet Susic, who was thought fortunate to have survived in the Bosnian job after their disappointing first-round exit at the World Cup finals and a 2-1 home defeat to Cyprus in Group ‘B’ on Tuesday did him few favours.

Turkey’s coach Fatih Terim may be nicknamed the ‘Emperor’ but his players did not play like Empire builders as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat away to Iceland, who continue to progress after losing out to a World Cup finals place in the play-offs.

Both Susic and Terim could have done with someone of the star quality of Gareth Bale, for the Real Madrid forward came to Wales boss Chris Coleman’s rescue in scoring a double, the second a marvellous free-kick 10 minutes from time, as they came from behind to edge minnows Andorra 2-1.

Andorra — who had not won in 51 competitive fixtures since beating Macedonia in October 2004 — had taken a shock lead early in the Group ‘B’ encounter in Andorra la Vella as Ildefons Lima converted a sixth-minute penalty, ending an Andorran goal drought in competitive matches stretching back 18 games.

Cyprus staged a similar comeback, with Dimitris Christofi scoring twice after Bosnia took the lead through Vedad Ibisevic in the sixth minute.

Christofi beat goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to a cross and headed in the equalizer just before half-time. With Bosnia pushing for a winner, Cyprus struck on the counterattack as Christofi came one-on-one with Begovic and calmly slotted in the winner to stun the fans in Zenica.

Belgium and Israel are also in Group ‘B’, but their opening game was postponed until March because of the conflict in Gaza.

Zaza, who became the first Sassuolo player to win an Italy cap last week, broke the deadlock in Oslo with his first international goal following a mazy run with a shot from a tight angle which took a slight deflection to wrong-foot Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.

Strike partner Ciro Immobile was offside and in the goalkeeper’s line of vision, but the referee waved away Norway’s protests.

Bonucci doubled Italy’s lead shortly after the hour mark, when the Juventus defender was left unmarked at the far post and headed in a cross from substitute Manuel Pasqual.

“We played an almost perfect game, the kind of game I dreamed of,” Conte told a news conference. “This is a new group of players I’m working with and there are many young players.

“Both Zaza and Ciro are modern attackers...but like everyone else, they can get better. We chose to play with 23, 24-year-olds, and the performance tonight shows that they are our present and our future.”

Elsewhere in Group ‘H’, second-half goals from Luka Modric and Andrej Kramaric gave Croatia a 2-0 win over Malta, while substitute Ventsislav Hristov’s late header gave Bulgaria a 2-1 victory in Azerbaijan.

The Dutch, who were without Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, looked to have fought their way back into their game in Prague when Stefan de Vrij, one of the outstanding members of their defence in Brazil, headed past Petr Cech from Daley Blind’s cross in the 55th minute.

However, his fellow defender Daryl Janmaat was to unwittingly hand the Czechs the late winner as his ill-judged header back to ‘keeper Jasper Cillessen allowed Pilar to nick in and tap the ball home.

“It’s my mistake,” Janmaat told Dutch broadcaster NOS. “I can’t make it right.”

Iceland’s victory over Turkey in Reykjavik saw them top Group ‘A’ on goal difference while Kazakhstan and Latvia played out a 0-0 draw.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson scored in the 18th minute and Iceland’s task of defending their lead was made easier when Omer Toprak was sent off in the 59th minute for his second yellow card.

Gylfi Sigurdsson doubled the lead in the 76th minute and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson completed the scoring a minute later.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014