The Last Result: European Championship Qualifying

France gained some payback Wednesday for its loss in the World Cup final with a 3-1 victory over Italy in European Championship qualifying, while Germany routed San Marino by a championship record 13-0.

Northern Ireland came from behind to beat Spain 3-2 in the day's biggest upset with David Healy scoring all three. But England and the Netherlands moved smoothly toward Euro 2008 with their second shutout victories in group play.

Sidney Govou, chosen to start instead of Louis Saha, scored twice and Thierry Henry added the other at the Stade de France as Italy slumped to another defeat. Under coach Roberto Donadoni, who replaced Marcello Lippi after the World Cup, the Italians have lost twice and drew 1-1 with visiting Lithuania in Group B.

Govou put the French into the lead in the second minute and, after Henry added a second in the 17th, Alberto Gilardino replied for the Italians three minutes later. But Govou's long-range header in the 55th made it 3-1 to give France two victories from two games and a five-point advantage over the World Cup champions.

The result gave the French fans some compensation for Italy's penalty shootout victory in Berlin, where Zinedine Zidane was sent off for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi and then went into retirement.

Germany, which lost 2-0 to the Italians in the World Cup semifinals, made up for a shaky 1-0 victory over Ireland by setting a European Championship record at San Marino.

Lukas Podolski scored four goals and Thomas Hitzlsperger, Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger had two each as the Germans bettered Spain's 12-1 victory over Malta in a 1983 qualifying game.

"We knew that this was the weakest team in our group and we wanted to score a lot of goals," Lukas Podolski said.

Libor Sionko scored twice in the first 21 minutes and Jan Koller added the third in the 57th as the Czech Republic won 3-0 at Slovakia. Both teams have six points.

The big upset was in Belfast, where Healy, who scored Northern Ireland's winner in a World Cup qualifying victory over England last October, hit three against the Spaniards. Xavi Hernandez and David Villa had put Spain ahead 2-1 at Windsor Park, but Healy struck in the 64th and 80th minutes.

Spain's surprise loss means Sweden took over first place and leads by three points after beating Belarus 2-0.

Two goals by Marcus Allback helped Sweden beat Liechtenstein 3-1, but only after Group F's weakest team threatened a shock. After Allback's second-minute strike in Goteborg, Mario Frick evened it in the 27th. Allback didn't restore the lead until the 69th and Markus Rosenberg added another in the 89th as Sweden made it six points from two games.

Dennis Rommedahl and Jon Dahl Tomasson scored first-half goals as Denmark opened Group F with a 2-0 victory at Iceland.

Of the other powerhouse teams in action, England went to the top of Group E with a 1-0 victory at Macedonia with Peter Crouch raising his tally to 11 goals in his last 10 appearances. The result puts England on top on goal difference ahead of Israel, which beat Andorra 4-1 and also has six points.

Guus Hiddink's first competitive game in charge of Russia ended in a 0-0 draw with Croatia in Moscow. Both teams are five points behind the leaders with a game in hand.

Helped by two goals from Robin van Persie, the Netherlands beat Belarus 3-0 and has two victories in Group G. The Dutch are two points ahead of Bulgaria, which beat Slovenia 3-0, and Romania, which won 2-0 at Albania.

Despite its second victory in Group B, France remains second on goal difference behind Scotland, which won 2-1 at Lithuania. Both have six points while Ukraine and Georgia have three.

Scotland followed up its 6-0 hammering of the Faeroe Islands with a 2-1 victory at Lithuania. Christian Dailly and Kenny Miller scored. Darius Miceika replied for the hosts with an acrobatic overhead shot.

Andriy Shevchenko led Ukraine to a 3-2 victory over Georgia with a goal in the 31st minute in Kiev. The visitors had led 2-1 through the 61st minuted on tallies by Shota Arveladze and Georgi Demetradze. Ruslan Rotan scored four minutes later and Andriy Rusol hit the winner 10 minutes from the end.

Portugal was held to a 1-1 draw by Finland in Group A.

After winning 3-1 at Poland, Finland went ahead when Jonatan Johansson scored 22 minutes in, but Nuno Gomes replied three minutes before halftime. Portugal played the last 37 minutes with 10 men after Ricardo Costa was sent off for a second yellow card.

Daniel Van Buyten's goal gave Belgium a 1-0 victory at Armenia. The Belgians are tied with Serbia and Finland on four points, with Portugal in fifth behind Kazakhstan.

Serbia drew 1-1 with Poland. Danko Lazovic neutralized Radoslaw Matusiak's strike.

In the other Group A game, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan drew 1-1.

Norway edged Moldova 2-1 in Oslo to post its second group victory. The visitors played almost the entire second half with 10 men after Victor Berco was sent off. After that, Fredrik Stromstad and Steffen Iversen scored.

Second-half goals by Nihat Kahveci and Tumer Metin gave Turkey a 2-0 victory over Malta in its first Group C game, while Hungary rebounded from Saturday's 4-1 loss to visiting Norway by winning 3-1 at Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The results mean the Norwegians are in first with six points with Turkey, Bosnia, Greece and Hungary all on three.
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