France in nightmare World Cup start, Italy struggle

FRENCH OUTPLAYED: Sidney Govou (l) of France jumps over Christian Fuchs (r) of Austria. (AFP)

France were outplayed 3-1 by little Austria, just 101st in the world, for a catastrophic start to their 2010 World Cup campaign to while cupholders Italy managed a shakey 2-1 victory over Cyprus.

France, 2006 World Cup finalists, had a terrible Euro 2008, losing in the group phase, and this Group Seven result will further weaken the position of coach Raymond Domenech.

Goals by Marc Janko and Rene Aufhauser before the break put the hosts firmly in front but Sidney Govou got one back for France on the hour.

A converted penalty by Andreas Ivanschitz in the 72nd minute finished off the scoring and France's fate.

The French football federation will surely be keenly expecting a better result against Serbia on Wednesday at the Stade de France and against Romania on October 11.

A non-committal Domenech told TF1 television after the match: "It's difficult to analyse what happened immediately. I will have to look at the match again to see what exactly happened before making comments. I have impressions of the match but I will need to verify them.

"What disappointed me the most? To have lost."

The first two goals by the Austrians were similar.

The first came when a freekick by Ivanschitz was badly negotiated by French centre backs William Gallas and Philippe Mexes and Janko found the net.

Then in the 41st minute, another freekick by Ivanschitz was put in the net by Aufhauser with Gallas getting a touch.

And a Mexes foul on Janko gave away the penalty to confirm the victory of Karel Bruckner's men and it was clear on the night France missed the likes of retired defender Lilian Thuram.

Earlier in the 61st minute Govou, making the most of the absence of Franck Ribery, had scored for France but it was not enough to prevent defeat.

Austria had ridden their luck a little however as just in the 15th minute, Sebastian Proedl managed to scare keeper Alex Manninger by hitting the ball on to his own crossbar, and Jeremy Toulalan had a great chance in the 66th minute.

France's shaky defence is proving a problem; in the last four matches, they have conceded 11 goals.

France captain Thierry Henry agreed there were serious defensive problems. "We are not down-and-out and there is still time but to qualify, if we defend like we did tonight against freekicks, we are in trouble. It's not normal," Henry said.

"We were playing away from home and all they had [were freekicks] and look what happened. We tried to get back into the match and had about 30 minutes to score again but after the penalty was given away it didn't happen."

Meanwhile, defending champions Italy needed a last-minute goal to eke out a 2-1 victory against lowly Cyprus in a below-par performance to kick-off their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Antonio Di Natale, with his second goal of the night, secured an undeserved three points in this highly entertaining game in Group Eight.

The defending champions were given an almighty scare by minnows Cyprus who ran them ragged at times on a balmy Mediterranean evening.
"There was little difference between the two sides, Cyprus were unlucky many times. We could have lost this game," said Italy coach Marcello Lippi.
 
Cyprus coach Angelos Anastasiades found it hard to hide his disappointment.

"I'm very upset because we can do better. What else can I say?" said Anastasiades.

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