Football United

It was a mixed weekend of friendly results for eight of the nations preparing for UEFA EURO 2004™. Italy and Portugal enjoyed comfortable victories, while the Netherlands and Greece both stumbled to defeat.

Advocaat unhappy
Belgium beat their Dutch neighbours 1-0 in Eindhoven on Saturday, courtesy of a Bart Goor penalty 12 minutes from time. Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was unhappy with his side's performance, but refused to push the panic button.

'First step'
"It is our first step in preparing for Portugal and it is clearly one of our worst games," he said. "We will have to learn from it." The coach added that his side, who are in Group D with Germany, the Czech Republic and Latvia, had particularly missed the passion of midfield enforcer Edgar Davids, one of several rested players.

First-time scorers
Italy enjoyed a far more satisfactory outing, beating African champions Tunisia 4-0 in Tunis on Sunday. An own goal from Tunisian defender Riadh Bouazizi gave the Azzurri a 15th-minute lead and the three remaining goals were all registered by players who had never scored for Italy before.

Trapattoni satisfied
Captain Fabio Cannavaro's 27th-minute header made it 2-0 and playmaker Andrea Pirlo curled in a wonderful free-kick in the 86th minute. Three minutes later defender Gianluca Zambrotta's close-range effort made it 4-0. "I'm really satisfied with our performance and especially with our mental approach to the game," declared Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

Danes held
Italy's opponents in their opening Group C game at EURO 2004™, Denmark, were surprisingly held 2-2 by Estonia in Tallinn. Jon Dahl Tomasson's cool finish put the Scandinavians ahead after 28 minutes, and although the Danes controlled the match and had the lion's share of possession they spurned several good chances to extend their advantage.

Olsen thoughts
Estonia refused to lie down, Kristen Viikmäe equalising with a 77th-minute header. Danish substitute Kenneth Perez restored his side's advantage three minutes later but Joel Lindpere's last-minute shot deflected past Thomas Sørensen to make it 2-2. "Our play lacked quality and precision," coach Morten Olsen said. "We cannot afford this kind of play at EURO 2004™."

Greece lack fire
Greece, who meet hosts Portugal in the tournament's opening match in Lisbon on 12 June, also lacked fire in a 1-0 away defeat by Poland in Szczecin on Saturday. The only goal of the game came when Mihalis Kapsis put through his own goal on 16 minutes after a mix-up with goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis.

Stroll for Portugal
The same day, the Portuguese strolled to a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in Águeda. Playing the first half without six FC Porto players following their UEFA Champions League heroics on Wednesday, Portugal still managed three goals before the break through Luís Figo, Nuno Gomes and Rui Costa. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said: "I want my team to be able to take the risk of shooting on goal and today was a perfect occasion for them to do it."

Olic winner
Croatia, who are in Group B alongside France, England and Switzerland, beat Slovakia 1-0 on Saturday. Ivica Olic scored the only goal on 29 minutes in the absence of Ivan Klasnic, who was on scoring form for SV Werder Bremen in their German Cup final win, and Dado Pršo, who was carrying a knock after Wednesday's Champions League final.

Wiltord on target
On Friday, Slyvain Wiltord scored twice as the reigning European champions France strolled to a 4-0 win against Andorra in Montpellier, while Marcus Allbäck also scored two goals as Sweden won 3-1 in Finland.

Source: uefa.com