England hangs on for narrow win over battling Finns

LIVERPOOL, MARCH 25. Sven Goran Eriksson's competitive England era got off to a stuttering but ultimately successful start on Saturday as goals by Michael Owen and David Beckham gave his side a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Finland at Anfield.

England, playing its first competitive home game away from Wembley since 1962 and their first ever under a foreign coach, fell behind to an Aki Riihilahti header after 26 minutes as it failed to impose themselves in the first half.

Owen banged in the equaliser just before halftime and a screamer from Beckham four minutes after the restart had the home fans sitting back and waiting for the goals to come.

Owen hit the bar and Cole missed badly from close range but England was indebted to goalkeeper David Seaman who made a great double save in the last minute to deny the ever- dangerous Jari Litmanen.

England, which lost its opening World Cup game 1-0 at home to Germany, sparking the resignation of coach Kevin Keegan, and drew their next 0-0 in Helsinki, now has four points from three games. It visits Albania on Wednesday.

Resilient Belgium salvages draw

GLASGOW: Belgium coach Robert Waseige hailed his side for finding the mental toughness to come back and snatch a 2-2 World Cup draw against Scotland at Hampden Park on Saturday.

Substitute Daniel van Buyten rescued Belgium, who played for more than an hour with 10 men after Eric Deflandre's dismissal, with an equaliser two minutes into injury time of the European Group VI match.

The Scots, who had been 2-0 up through a Billy Dodds double, seemed certain to assume leadership of the group until defender van Buyten rose to head in Sven Vermant's cross from 10 metres for his first international goal.

Holland back on track

BARCELONA: The Netherlands got its World Cup campaign back on track putting five goals past Andorra to earn three much-needed points in their European Group II qualifying match against Andorra on Saturday.

Second half substitute Pierre van Hooijdonk scored twice in his first game for the Dutch under coach Louis van Gaal, whose team still trail group leaders Portugal by three points after the 5-0 win. The Dutch have seven points from four games. In the ninth minute, Patrick Kluivert headed home a Paul Bosvelt cross for the first Dutch goal of the match.

Klose is Germany's hero

LEVERKUSEN: Germany needed a late goal from newcomer Miroslav Klose to beat a brave Albanian side 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier. The young Kaiserslautern striker, who came on in the second half to win his first cap, hit the winner with a diving header with two minutes remaining in a dull game with few highlights.

Midfielder Sebastian Deisler had put the home team in front with a thunderous drive from some 25 metres five minutes into the second half but the visitors levelled with a powerful effort from 20 metres by midfielder Bledar Kola 15 minutes later.

The result gave the Germans a perfect score of nine points from three games in Group IX, ideally placed to make it to next year's finals in Japan and South Korea.

Inzaghi double sinks Romania

BUCHAREST: Two Opportunist first-half goals from Filippo Inzaghi helped Italy take a step closer to the 2002 World Cup finals with a 2-0 win over Romania that left the home side's hopes of qualifying in tatters.

Inzaghi's two strikes, the first a 28th minute deflection off Daniel Prodan and the second a short-range header four minutes later, on Saturday lifted Italy five points clear at the top of qualifying Group VIII.

Romania has just three points from three games and although Lithuania's shock draw away to Hungary on Saturday gives it an outside hope, it needs the Italians to keep winning matches.

Lithuania holds Hungary

BUDAPEST: A rejuvenated Lithuania took a point off Hungary with a 1-1 draw in their Group VIII World Cup qualifier. The first half produced few bright moments on a slippery pitch and Hungary took the lead from a penalty by defender Vilmos Sebok in the 70th minute after playmaker Bela Illes was brought down in the area.

Lithuania bounced back immediately and equalised when Tomas Razanauskas drove home a free kick in the 74th minute which took a cruel deflection. In October, Hungary had thrashed Lithuania in Kaunas 6-1.

Hungary is second in the group, behind Italy, with five points from three. Lithuania has one point from four games.

Denmark demolishes Malta

VALLETTA: Ebbe Sand scored a hat-trick as Denmark trounced Malta 5-0 in a World Cup European Group III qualifier at Ta'Qali Stadium. Jan Heintze and Claus Jensen were the other scorers.

Ireland crushes Cyprus

NICOSIA: Ireland moved into second place in its World Cup European qualifying Group II after a convincing 4-0 win over Cyprus.

Ireland and Manchester United captain Roy Keane sparked the rout after 33 minutes. The lead was doubled two minutes before halftime, when Ian Harte converted a penalty. Gary Kelly made it 3-0 before Roy Keane rounded off a fine individual display.

- Reuters

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