Rocky start

Crowd trouble mars Italy loss on busy night in Europe

LONDON (AP) -- Crowd violence and a death threat marred the opening of Europe's international soccer season on Wednesday.

Thousands of Slovenia fans who made the journey for their team's surprise 1-0 victory over Italy at Trieste, hurled fire bombs and objects onto the field during the first half and shouted insults and raised their fists as dozens of riot policemen entered their section to keep them under control.

Sebastjan Cimirotic fired a 32nd minute matchwinner but the game likely will be remembered for the crowd problems and Italy's inability to lift the gloom of its early World Cup elimination.

There also was trouble between Bosnian fans and riot police after the home team's 2-0 loss to neighbor Yugoslavia while the death threat forced Northern Ireland's Neil Lennon to pull out of his team's game against Cyprus, which ended 0-0 in Belfast.

A starting midfielder who also plays for Scottish champions Glasgow Celtic, Lennon decided to withdraw from the game after police told him about a telephoned threat.

Lennon has previously threatened to quit the Northern Ireland squad after suffering anti-Catholic taunts and previous phoned threats from the team's predominantly Protestant fans.

"After close consultation with the footballing authorities and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, I will not be participating in this evening's international game," Lennon said in a statement. "I am very disappointed that my desire to play for my country, on my first opportunity to captain my team, has been taken away from me."

There were some bright spots, however, and some good reasons to celebrate in the 23 friendlies spread across Europe.

Still enjoying its surprise third place at the World Cup, Turkey warmed up for its European Championship campaign with a 3-0 victory over Georgia on Wednesday.

The result and the performance showed that Senol Gunes' team isn't sitting on its bronze medal performance at the World Cup and is gunning for England in the Euro 2004 qualifying group. The games start next month.

World Cup runner up Germany twice came back to tie 2-2 with Bulgaria in Sofia while France, which timidly lost its world title, scored a creditable 1-1 tie at Tunisia.

Having failed even to reach the World Cup, star-studded Netherlands needed a boost ahead of the Euros and got it with a 1-0 win against Norway in Oslo.

But the Dutch were helped by a blunder by veteran home 'keeper Frode Grodas, who failed to deal with a cross and Edgar Davids tapped the ball into at empty net. It was Grodas' first game back for Norway in three years at age 37.

Fielding several newcomers, Spain was held to a 1-1 tie by Hungary in Budapest in a testimonial game to benefit former Hungarian and Real Madrid star Ferenc Puskas.

Ireland cruised to a 3-0 road victory over Finland to show that the absence of Manchester United star Roy Keane, who walked out of the team at the World Cup, still isn't being felt.

Two goals each by Jan Koller and Tomas Rosicky gave the Czech Republic a 4-1 win over Slovakia while Ebbe Sand's early header at Hampden Park gave Denmark a 1-0 victory over Scotland and poured mnore misery on Scottish team coach Berti Vogts whose team has lost five out of six games since he took over.

Greece scored an upset 1-0 victory at Romania while Russia and Sweden tied 1-1 and Croatia, a World Cup third place finisher in 1998, was held 1-1 at home by Mark Hughes' Wales which was missing several stars such as Manchester United's Ryan Giggs.

In other results, Yugoslavia won 2-0 at neighbor Bosnia, Belarus scored a 4-2 victory at Latvia, Iran upset Ukraine 1-0 in Kiev, Estonia edged Moldova 1-0, Faeroe Islands outplayed Liechtenstein 3-1, Macedonia crushed Malta 5-0, and Azerbaijan downed Uzbekistan 2-0.

Bulgaria 2, Germany 2

Before 10,000 fans at Sofia's Georgi Asparuhov stadium, Bayer Leverkusen's Dimitar Berbatov gave the Bulgarians a 21st minute lead only for Michael Ballack to reply from the penalty spot two minutes later. VfB Stuttgart's playmaker Krasimir Balakov restored the lead also from the penalty spot but a volley from German defender Arne Friedrich was deflected in by Carsten Jancker in the 57th minute for a second leveller.

Croatia 1, Wales 1

Tottenham's Simon Davies gave the Welsh an 11th minute minute lead at Varazdin with a mesmerizing solo run past three defenders. But the Welsh, who had withstood unrelenting pressure, were denied victory by Mladen Petric's leveler 11 minutes from the end. Goalkeeper Paul Jones cleared a backpass straight to the Croat who had the simplest of tasks to score.

Czech Republic 4, Slovakia 1

The Slovaks went ahead in the 15th minutes against their neighbor in Olomouc when Szilard Nemeth capitalized on a blunder by Czech goalkeeper Martin Vaniak and headed home from close range. But the Czechs hit back with two Jan Koller goals in the 32nd minute and 65th minutes before Tomas Rosicky scored two more in the 70th and 79th.

Finland 0, Ireland 3

In Helsinki, Robbie Keane walked the ball into the net after 12 minutes from a Damien Duff pass to give the Irish the lead. After numerous changes, Colin Healy added the second in the 74th minute from a Gary Breen pass and debutant Graham Barrett slipped home the third seven minutes from the end from Healy's chipped pass.

Hungary 1, Spain 1

To delight the home fans at Budapest, Vasilie Miriuta took a pass from Krisztian Kenesei in the 72nd minute, dribbled past two defenders and beat Ricardo Lopez with a high shot to the left side for the equalizer. Raul Tamudo had given the Spanish the lead in the 55th after he headed a low pass from Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez past Hungarian goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.

Italy 0, Slovenia 1

Amid the crowd trouble at Trieste, Italian goalkeeper GianLuigi Buffon saved from Muamer Vugdalic and Slovenian forward Ermin Siljak missed a golden close range chance before Sebastjan Cimirotic scored with an angled shot in the 32nd minute. Without injured key forwards Christian Vieri and Francesco Totti, under fire Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni replaced uneffective Alessandro Del Piero and Pippo Inzaghi with Massimo Marazzina and Marco Di Vaio in the second half, but the home team failed to produce anything convincing.

Norway 0, Netherlands 1

In Oslo, Edgar Davids capitalized on a blunder by Norwegian goalie Frode Grodas for the game-winner with 20 minutes left. Andy van der Meyde of Ajax started the move on the right flank, beating Liverpool's John Arne Riise before crossing the ball into the goalmouth. Grodas failed to take it and the Juventus star tapped in the ball into the open net.

Poland 1, Belgium 1

At Szczecin, the unmarked Maciej Zurawski put Poland ahead in the sixth minute after Belgian goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger missed a pass from Kamil Kosowski. Belgium leveled the score in the 42nd minute as Poland 'keeper Radoslaw Majdan bounced the ball back toward Belgium striker Wesley Sonk. Sonk did not miss the chance and drove it home from close range.

Romania 0, Greece 1

Stelios Yiannacopoulos hammered home a free kick after just 17 minutes for the only goal at the Gheorghe Hagi stadium in Bucharest. The Romanians could have equalized in the 33rd minute when striker Daniel Pancu fired a volley shot from seven meters just over the bar and Adrian Iencsi's header from eight meters hit the post five minutes from the end.

Russia 1, Sweden 1

Ajax Amsterdam striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an injury time equalizer to cancel out a Swedish strike before 20,000 fans at Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium. Four minutes into the second half, Zenit St. Petersburg striker Alexander Kerzhakov, who substituted for Vladimir Beschastnykh midway through the first half, headed in a goal past Swedish goalkeeper Mattias Asper. To revive his team after its dismal World Cup performance, Russia coach Valery Gazzayev tried out all 22 players on the roster, making 11 substitutions in the match.

Scotland 0, Denmark 1

Ebbe Sand headed the winner after just eight minutes at Hampden Park as the Danes, fielding most of their World Cup players, outclassed the Scots who haven't made it to either the last World Cup or Euros. Sand headed in a firmly hit right wing cross from AC Milan star striker Jon Dahl Tomasson after the Scots had half cleared a left wing center and the Danes had seven chances to the Scots two.

Tunisia 1, France 1

At Tunis Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre opened scoring for France in the 19th minute, heading in a corner kick from superstar midfielder Zinedine Zidane. But the determined Tunisians put up a solid fight, equalizing the score in the 38th minute with a header by forward Ali Zitouni that soared over France goalie Gregory Coupet.

Turkey 3, Georgia 0

At Trabzon, Arif Erdem fired home a free kick after just eight minutes, substitute Cihan Haspolat headed the second five minutes into the second half and Nihat Kahveci hit the third with a long-range drive 19 minutes from the end.

Ukraine 0, Iran 1

Against a Ukraine team missing AC Milan star striker Andriy Shevchenko, who is out of action until October after knee surgery, Iran captain Ali Daei, took a pass from Mehrad Minavand in mid-air and fired a jumping right-foot shot into the right corner of the goal at Kiev.

 

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