Wins for Germany and England

While Italy were losing their first match under new coach Marcello Lippi, Germany began their new era under Juergen Klinsmann with a 3-1 win over Austria in Vienna with Kevin Kuranyi scoring a hat-trick.

England, getting back to soccer after a summer dominated by tabloid headlines focusing on the private life of coach Sven Goran Eriksson, crushed Ukraine 3-0 in Newcastle with newly-united Real Madrid team mates David Beckham and Michael Owen scoring England's opening two goals. Debutant Shaun Wright-Phillips added the third.

The Netherlands, starting life under Marco van Basten, performed creditably against Sweden in Stockholm, leaving with a 2-2 draw, but former European champions France, also beginning a new era with coach Raymond Domenech, did not fare so well, their new-look side only drawing 1-1 with Bosnia in Rennes.

There was also a shock for Turkey, World Cup semi-finalists just two years ago. After failing to qualify for Euro 2004 and having to watch archrivals Greece win it, Turkey started the season with a shock 2-1 home defeat to lowly-ranked Belarus.

MADSEN HAT-TRICK

Greece, who inherited the European title from the French in Portugal last month, drew 0-0 with the Czech Republic in Prague, the country they beat 1-0 with a silver-goal winner in the semi-finals of Euro 2004 just over six weeks ago.

Denmark scored a one-sided 5-1 win over Poland in Poznan with Peter Madsen scoring a hat-trick, while Russia edged a seven-goal thriller 4-3 against Lithuania in Moscow with Victor Onopko making a record 113th appearance for the home side.

Meanwhile Spain, with 66-year-old Luis Aragones at the helm for the first time, beat Venezuela 3-2 in Las Palmas with Fernando Morientes opening

Elsewhere, there was an emphatic 6-0 win by world champions Brazil in their "peace match" against Haiti in Port-au-Prince with Ronaldinho spearheading their victory with a hat-trick.

Earlier in the day, Argentina beat newly crowned Asian champions Japan 2-1 in Shizuoka -- their seventh successive win over the Japanese since they first met in 1988.

For most of the European countries, Wednesday's games were their only warm-ups before their World Cup qualifiers begin early next month, but four European zone World Cup qualifiers were played.

In Group One, Macedonia beat Armenia 3-0 and Romania beat Finland 2-1 while in Group Three, Estonia won 2-1 away to Liechtenstein, who finished the match with nine men, while Slovakia beat Luxembourg 3-1.

ITALY ICED

Apart from Belarus's unexpected win over Turkey, the biggest shock of the night was in Reykjavik where Iceland beat Italy thanks to goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen after 17 minutes and Gylfi Einarsson two minutes later.

Although the domestic Icelandic season is in full swing and the Italian season does not start until the middle of next month, the result was still a surprise.

Italy will need to improve quickly before they start their World Cup qualifiers against Norway on September 4 and away to Moldova four days later.

Iceland, whose soccer has improved over the last few years taking them close at least to the playoffs for Euro 2004 late last year, were far more lively than a young Italian side and made up in enthusiasm and team work for anything they may have lacked in skills to the delight of the 20,034 crowd, a record for a home Iceland international.

They start their World Cup campaign against Bulgaria on September 4 before meeting Hungary four days later and will be heartened by their victory.