Euro 2012: France humiliated by Belarus
France slumped to a hugely embarrassing 1-0 home defeat against Belarus in their opening Euro 2012 Group D qualifier in their first competitive outing since their nightmare World Cup ended in South Africa.
France coach Laurent Blanc recalled nine players that were dropped for a friendly in Norway last month, but watched on in shock as substitute Sergei Kislyak netted the winner from a Vyacheslav Hleb pass four minutes from time.
The home crowd were far from happy at the final whistle as they relentlessly booed their side off despite giving them a warm reception at the start of the game.
World Champions Spain began their defence of the European Championship title with a thumping 4-0 win over Liechtenstein in Group I. Fernando Torres grabbed a double, whilst David Silva and an inevitable David Villa strike gave the away side a very simple victory against the minnows.
A Klaas-Jan Huntelaar hat trick was the catalyst for World Cup finalists the Netherlands as they overpowered San Marino 5-0 in Group E. Dirk Kuyt and Ruud van Nistelrooy netted the other two as the Dutch eased to a convincing victory.
Italy grabbed their first win for eight matches as they survived a scare to come back from 1-0 down, to win 2-1 against Estonia in Group C.
Sergei Zenjov had given Estonia a shock first half lead but second half strikes from Antonio Cassano and Leonardo Bonucci, allowed coach Cesare Prandelli to begin his competitive reign at the Italy helm with a win.
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-England-v-Bulgaira-full-time-report-a25342
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Fabio-Capello-I-am-focussed-to-the-game-not-the-critics-a25347
http://www.senore.com/Euro-2012-Evans-earns-Northern-Ireland-victory-a25345
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