Raúl makes history for Spain

Saéz delighted
Raúl scored his 30th and 31st international goals in the 3-1 defeat of the Germans in Mallorca to become his country's leading goalscorer of all time. "I am delighted," the Real Madrid CF forward said. His coach, Iñaki Saéz, was no less pleased with the result "because there were two good teams out there and it was a very competitive game until the end".

Shifting fortunes
For Germany's Rudi Völler, however, there was the disappointment of seeing a good first period - in which Fredi Bobic had equalised Raúl's opening goal - undone by his side's second-half display. "In the second half we could not do what we had done well in the first half," he said. "One reason we played worse is that we had to change things in defence and that's lethal against a team like Spain."

No need to worry
Meanwhile, Scolari, whose last competitive outing had been as Brazil's coach at the FIFA World Cup final, insisted the UEFA EURO 2004™ hosts had nothing to worry about. Scolari saw Portugal lose to a Bernardo Corradi goal against Italy in Genoa. "We lost but we should not be worried," he said. "On the basis of the performance tonight I don't think we need to change too much to get the team right." Portugal midfield player Rui Costa added: "He is a coach who comes to us after winning the World Cup so obviously there is a lot we can learn from him."

Morale boost 
Italy's 1-0 victory at least lifted Scolari's counterpart, Giovanni Trapattoni. "It was an important win from many points of view," the Italy coach said. "It is a lift to our morale after that poor run of results and we needed a victory." The Azzurri had won just one of eight previous games.

On the defensive
England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson had reason to question his team's defending after two goals conceded to Tony Popovic and Harry Kewell sent them crashing to a 3-1 defeat against Australia. It was the first time England had lost at football to the former colony, and Eriksson said: "If you are England you should not lose at football to Australia. The result was bad, and there was a little bit of a lack of concentration in both Australia's first-half goals."

Too much trouble
It took a special goal from Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the Netherlands to beat Argentina in Amsterdam. But Dutch coach Dick Advocaat was more worried about the "three great chances" that were missed. "At this level you have to take such opportunities, which would have made the rest of the match easier. Argentina gave us too many problems."

Not at the races
Meanwhile, France's Jacques Santini put his first defeat as national coach down to a bad day at the office. After the 2-0 home reverse against the Czech Republic he said: "It just wasn't going to be our day. There's not much more you can say. The Czech Republic played as well as they have in recent months. We did not."

Minds on the job
Finally, Scolari's debut might have ended in defeat, but there was a winning start for new Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr. Twenty-four hours after Roy Keane announced his international retirement, Kerr's team kept their minds on the job to beat Scotland in Glasgow. "It wasn't a huge distraction for the team," Kerr said. "There was a feeling of relief that there is closure to the issue and we were focused on the game."