Sweden off to World Cup flier

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.

France, who just over two years ago were world and European champions, are proving those days are well behind them following the international retirements of Zinedine Zidane and a host of his glittering colleagues from the recent past.

They were held to a 0-0 draw by Israel in Paris in their opening Group Four match and despite dominating most of the play no-one could find the golden key that Zidane used to keep to unlock a tightly regimented defence.

ENGLAND HELD

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.

Denmark and Turkey, who have both impressed in the last few years without winning any major honours, also failed to start their campaigns with what looked probable Group Two home wins.

Denmark were held to a 1-1 draw in Copenhagen by Ukraine, while Turkey, World Cup semi-finalists two years ago, drew by the same score with Georgia in their game in Trabzon.

But Italy, starting a competitive match under new coach Marcello Lippi for the first time, had something to celebrate.

They managed a 2-1 Group Five win over Norway in Palermo thanks to an 80th minute winner from substitute Luca Toni, who plays for the newly-promoted local Serie A club.

It was Norway's first defeat in nine matches and came even after they had taken a 42-second lead through John Carew.

Switzerland were one of the other big winners -- thumping Faroe Islands 6-0 in Basel with Johann Vonlanthen and Alexander Rey both scoring hat-tricks in their Group Four encounter.

Estonia, often on the end of some sizeable defeats, also had a good day, crushing Luxembourg 4-0 in Tallinn to top Group Three after two matches, although they will find things tougher when they travel to play Portugal on Wednesday.

GOOD START

The Portuguese, re-adjusting to life after losing the Euro 2004 final to Greece in Lisbon two months ago, had a good start by beating Latvia 2-0 in Group Three in Riga. Cristiano Ronaldo and Pauleta scored the goals in a two-minute second-half spell.

There were also impressive wins for Ireland, who beat Cyprus 3-0 in their Group Four match in Dublin, and Poland, who overcame Northern Ireland 3-0 in a Group Six match in Belfast.

Croatia looked lively with a 3-0 home win over Hungary in their Group Eight opener while Milenko Acimovic also had a day to remember as he scored all of Slovenia's goals in their 3-0 win over Moldova in Group Five.

Finland, bidding to reach a major finals for the first time in their history, bounced back from an opening defeat to Romania in Group One last month to beat Andorra 3-0 in Tampere.

Romania, who missed out on the 2002 finals, maintained their perfect start in the same group with a 2-1 win over Macedonia.

Russia and Slovakia drew 1-1 in Group Three in Moscow in a match marked by a minute's silence to commemorate the victims of the school massacre in Beslan on Friday.

Russia missed a penalty and dropped points as Slovakia equalised three minutes from the end.

Other World Cup qualifiers were being played in Africa, South America and the Caribbean with another round of games scheduled for Wednesday.