AUSTRIA started their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in style with a shock 3-1 victory over France in Group 7 last night.

IRELAND coach Giovanni Trapattoni won his first competitive game in charge with a 2-1 victory over Georgia in a World Cup Group Eight qualifier.

GOALS from defender Martin Skrtel and midfielder Marek Hamsik gave Slovakia a 2-1 home win over Northern Ireland in their World Cup Group Three qualifier.

THE threat posed to Scotland by Iceland in general and Eidur Gudjohnsen in particular was underlined in Oslo in last night's other Group 9 match.

SKOPJE was not the most welcoming of places yesterday, certainly not for the legions of Scots. Despite representations made by the SFA to the local authorities on the morning

AUSTRIA started their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in style with a shock 3-1 victory over France in Group 7 last night.

NEW ZEALAND sealed top spot in the Oceania World Cup qualifying competition and moved through to the last stage by beating New Caledonia 3-1 in Noumea yesterday. The win main

BRAZIL visit Chile in a World Cup qualifier today knowing defeat could hasten the downfall of beleaguered coach Dunga.

AND FOR his next trick George Burley will attempt to put a positive spin on the worldwide recession and talk up the benefits of global warming and soaring unemployment. Clearl

JOE Cole – the player Fabio Capello is reluctant to include in his starting line-up – again spared his blushes as England finally overcame the minnows of Andorra in their open

TEENAGE substitute Sam Vokes scored his first international goal to give Wales victory over Azerbaijan and allow manager John Toshack to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Vokes,

He may be planning to move to Reykjavik but, as Andrew Smith finds, his loyalties are all one way

Eidur Gudjohnsen won his first cap as a sub for his father and is now the daddy of Icelandic football, says Jonathan Wilson

IN A grim match, in a grim stadium, in a grim city, the grimmest sight of all was the scene at the end when the Scots dragged themselves off the park, clearly jaded, clearly d

Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Donadoni appear the frontrunners to take over from Alan Curbishley as manager of West Ham, but the club insisted Sunday there were no clear favourites as they confirmed a four-man shortlist.

Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the organising committee for the 2010 World Cup, insisted Sunday South Africa "is on time" to host the tournament and dismissed rumours Germany could step in as a replacement.

On a busy day of World Cup 2010 qualifiers around the world, there were mixed results for teams from the British Isles. England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland all won, while Scotland and Northern Ireland lost tough matches in the heat of Eastern Europe. England struggled to overcome the minnows of Andora 2-0 in Barcelona, Wales edged 10-man Azerbaijan 1-0 in Cardiff, and Ireland beat war-affected Georgia in neutral Mainz. Germany and Portugal showed England how it's done with the smaller teams by thrashing Liechtenstein 6-0 and Malta 4-0 away respectively and there were hard-fought wins for Italy, Spain and Ukraine in their opening matches. The biggest shocks were losses for France 3-1 away to Austria in Vienna and a 3-0 drubbing for Romania at home to Lithuania. In Asia there were impressive away wins for Japan and North Korea in the Middle East while Saudi Arabia and Iran shared the points in Riyadh with a 1-1 draw. In South America, Argentina drew 1-1 at home to group leaders Paraguay in Buenos Aires, a resurgent Uruguay beat Chile 1-0 away and Ecuador beat Bolivia 3-1 at home. In the CONCACAF zone, the USA won an historic match 1-0 in Havana against Cuba and Mexico made no mistakes with an impressive 3-0 home win over Jamaica as Sven Goran Eriksson's team top their group. Bet with Bet 365 Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News World Cup

BIRMINGHAM (SW) – After an encouraging start to the new season by Aston Villa and Bulgarian midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, Aston Villa’s manager Martin O’Neill has said that he could be in line for a new three year deal.

MAPUTO (SW) – Popular African side Ivory Coast took another step towards qualification for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 when they drew 1 – 1 with Mozambique in the capital city of Maputo in Mozambique earlier today.

England´s senior players, including David Beckham and John Terry, are attempting to quash any talk of revenge as they prepare for a World Cup qualifier against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday that could begin to define the new Fabio Capello era.