Big guns fire as qualifying begins

Group 1
Romania thrashed F.Y.R. Macedonia 5-1 in Caracal, a match which attracted 12,000 spectators for the first international in this small town. The Romanian hero was Nicolae Mitea, who scored a hat-trick just 24 hours after being sent down to the U21s from the senior squad. The other goals came from Lucian Burdujan and Razvan Cocis.

Group 2
Denmark came from behind to beat Ukraine 3-2 in Farum, Thomas Kahlenberg netting the winner from the penalty spot with four minutes remaining. Ukraine had gone in front through a Sebastian Svärd own goal after only five minutes. The Danes drew level after 27 minutes through Leon Andreassen's header and ten minutes later Morten Rasmussen put them 2-1 ahead. Adrian Pukanych restored parity in the second half, before Kahlenberg's late match-winning spot-kick. Turkey were held 0-0 by Georgia and it finished 1-1 between Albania and Greece.

Group 3
Amoreirinha scored the 75th-minute winner as Portugal won 2-1 in Latvia, while Estonia fail to make their domination tell in a goalless draw with Luxembourg in Rakvere.

Group 4
Anthony Le Tallec scored the only goal after 24 minutes as France beat Israel in Beauvais. Bryan Bergougnoux had earlier missed a penalty in what was René Girard's first competitive match since replacing Raymond Domenech. The Republic of Ireland stretched their unbeaten run at this level to 13 games with a 3-0 home win over Cyprus in Kilkenny. Glenn Whelan, John Fitzgerald and Kevin Doyle scored the goals.

Group 5
Holders Italy started the defence of their title with a convincing 2-0 win over Norway in Trapani. Playmaker Alberto Aquilani opened the scoring with a shot from 20 metres after 19 minutes and Gianpaolo Pazzini headed the second goal six minutes before the break. Italy's Rolando Bianchi was sent off in the second half for a second bookable offence.

Group 6
Carlton Cole and Darren Bent ensured the restored England coach Peter Taylor a winning return in Krems. It was the Hull City FC manager's first competitive match back in charge of the U21s since his dismissal from the post four years ago. Wales won 1-0 in Azerbaijan.

Group 7
In Westerlo, Belgium were 3-0 winners against Lithuania, Jonathan Blondel scoring twice and Nicolas Lombaerts getting the third. Serbia and Montenegro won even more convincingly, 5-0 in San Marino.

Group 8
A hat-trick from striker Hannes Sigurdsson gave Iceland a 3-1 victory over Bulgaria. Sigurdsson opened the scoring after 40 minutes and added his second and third goals from the penalty spot in the second half. Sweden won 1-0 in Malta thanks to Alexander Farnerud's 19th-minute free-kick while a 19th-minute goal from the Brazil-born striker Da Silva earned Croatia's new coach Slaven Bilic a 1-0 victory over Hungary.