LONDON (AP):
WORLD CUP champions Italy were held to a 1-1 draw by Lithuania yesterday in European Championship qualifying, and Germany, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands struggled to beat underdog opponents.
Lithuania captain Tomas Danilevicius gave his team a 21st-minute lead in Naples, Italy. The hosts, who won the World Cup less than two months ago, needed Filippo Inzaghi's 30th-minute goal to salvage a point in Group B.
A deflected shot from Lukas Podolski enabled Germany to edge Ireland 1-0 in Stuttgart, the Czech Republic needed a last-minute winner for a 2-1 victory over Wales and a goal by defender Joris Mathijsen helped the Netherlands squeeze past Luxembourg 1-0.
There were no such scares for World Cup runners-up France or England, however, while defending champions Greece began with a 1-0 victory at Moldova.
The French cruised to a 3-0 victory at Georgia while England outplayed Andorra 5-0 with Peter Crouch taking his scoring record to 10 goals in his past nine games.
Italy's surprise draw means they are in fourth place behind Scotland, Georgia and France, who all have three points.
France coach Raymond Domenech feared the World Cup runners-up might slip up in Tblisi against a Georgia line-up which crushed the Faeroe Islands 6-0 in its opening Group B game.
But after Florent Malouda and Louis Saha had put his team ahead 2-0 in the first 16 minutes, Domenech had no need to worry. An own-goal by Malkhaz Asatiani in the 46th completed the victory.
"This type of match is never easy," Domenech said. "Georgia are a good team. We did not take this match lightly. The fact we played well in the first half shows how much we respected the team in front of us."
In another Group B game, Kris Boyd scored two goals to help Scotland to a 5-0 lead by the 38th minute on the way to a 6-0 victory over the Faeroe Islands. The Faeroes have now conceded 12 goals in two matches.
Co-strikers Crouch and Jermain Defoe scored two goals each in England's predictably easy win over Andorra at Old Trafford in Group E. Steven Gerrard also hit the target and Owen Hargreaves twice hit the post as England repeatedly opened up the Andorra side, which often had all 11 players behind the ball.
Good goals for England
The comfortable victory was another positive for England coach Steve McClaren, who took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson after England's disappointing World Cup performance. Including beating Greece 4-0 in a friendly last month, England have scored nine goals in two shutouts.
"They were good goals against any opposition," McClaren said. "You play Andorra and you do what you have to do and the players did that. It was a good performance, some good goals and I was pleased with it."
In the same group, Israel won 1-0 at Estonia with Roberto Collatti scoring in the seventh minute.
The games were among 19 qualifying matches for the European Championship, which takes place in Austria and Switzerland in two years. Although two teams make it from each of the eight groups, it's going to be a tough journey for many.
Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given defied Germany with top quality saves from Miroslav Klose and Podolski. He was unlucky to be beaten when Podolski's shot, following a free kick, took a wild deflection off Robbie Keane and flew inside the opposite post for the only goal of the game.
