Raul rains four

LONDON, March 28: Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez scored four times as Spain demolished Austria 9-0, with England, and Germany also pic...

LONDON, March 28: Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez scored four times as Spain demolished Austria 9-0, with England, and Germany also picking up key victories as 15 European 2000 qualifiers filled the continent.England, in the debut of coach Kevin Keegan, defeated Poland 3-1 yesterday on three goals by Paul Scholes, and Germany dropped Northern Ireland 3-0 as Marco Bode scored twice. It was only the second win for Germany in six games under new coach Erich Ribbeck.

World Cup champion France, meanwhile, was held to a scoreless draw at home with Ukraine. For Spain, like England and Germany, it was a fresh start under new coach Jose Antonio Camacho.

8220;There was a lot of pressure on the german team because they8217;ve come in for heavy criticism and they were clearly very nervous following on from the defeat to the US,8221; German soccer idol Franz Beckenbauer said.8220;So this was a very important win for them.8221;

Results Group I: Italy 2 Filippo Inzaghi, Antonio Conte bt Denmark 1 Ebbe Sand in Copenhagen;Switzerland 1 Sebastien Fournier bt Belarus 0 in Minsk.

Group II: Norway 2 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 2 bt Greece 0 in Athens; Slovenia 1 Zaza Dzanashia drew with Georgia 1 Zlatko ZahovicGroup III: Turkey 2 Hakan Sukur, Sergen Yalcin bt Moldova 0 in Istanbul; Germany 3 Marco Bode 2, Dietmar Hamann bt Northern Ireland 0 in Belfast.Group IV: France 0 drew with Ukraine 0 in Saint-Dennis; Russia 3 Valery Karpin 2, Vladimir Bestchastnykh bt Armenia 0 in Yerevan; Iceland 2 Eyjolfur Sverrisson, Steinar Adolfsson bt Andorra 0 in Andorra la Vella.Group V: Sweden 2 Johan Mjallby, Henrik Larsson bt Luxembourg 0 in Goteborg; England 3 Paul Scholes 3 bt Poland 1 Jerzy Brzeczek in WembleyGroup VI: Spain 9 Raul Gonzalez 4, Ismael Urzaiz 2, Fran Javier Gonzalez 1, Fernando Hierro 1, Peter Schoettel self goal bt Austria 0 in Valencia.Group VII: Portugal 7 Joao Pinto 2, Pauleta 2, Luis Figo, Paulo Madeira, Sergio Conceicao bt Azerbaijan 0 at Guimaraes; Slovakia 0 drew with Romania in Bucharest; Hungary 5Vilmos Seboek 3, Jozsef Seboek, Bela Illes bt Liechtenstein 0 in Budapest.

Group VIII: Macedonia vs Ireland and Yugoslavia vs Croatia postponed because of Nato air strike.

Group IX: Czech Republic 2 bt Lithuania 0 Michal Hornak, Patrik Berger in Teblice.

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Scotland had its home match yesterday against Bosnia postponed because of Nato air strikes

Bulgaria 1 Hristo Yovov bt Belgium 0 in Brussels.