Scotland clinched a famous 1-0 win over World Cup finalists France to thrillingly prove that there is more to British football than England.

Gary Caldwell grabbed the only goal at a wet and wild Hampden Park in Glasgow as Walter Smith's men maintained their perfect start to their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Meanwhile, 350km to the south at Old Trafford in Manchester, England's much-hyped team labored to a 0-0 draw with Macedonia.

By the end of Saturday's action, the only thing Scotland and England had in common was that both still lead their qualifying groups.

Caldwell refused to get carried away, insisting his teammates must focus on the trip to Ukraine on Wednesday.

"It is amazing - an unbelievable result. One of the best ever for Scotland," he said.

"But the group goes on and there is a long way to go. It is an amazing start but we have to keep our feet on the ground and go again in Ukraine."

Celtic defender Caldwell scored in the 67th minute to give the Scots their third win in three matches in Group B, a section which also includes world champions Italy who saw off Ukraine 2-0 in Rome.

France coach Raymond Domenech was so dispirited that he turned his fire on the local ball-boys.

"For me the Scots played fairly but I was very disappointed with the ball-boys who slowed down the game and didn't give the ball back straight away," moaned Domenech.

France had dominated most of the match with Thierry Henry hitting a freekick against the post while the visitors also had a Patrick Vieira header in the net but that was ruled out for offside.

Steve McClaren suffered his first setback as England coach as his under-performing team were held to a 0-0 draw by Macedonia in Group E.

McClaren, who saw a Peter Crouch goal seal a 1-0 win against the same opponents in Skopje last month, had recorded three wins from his opening three games after succeeding Sven-Goran Eriksson as head coach during the summer.

But despite a Steven Gerrard effort that hit the crossbar five minutes from time, England simply could not find the breakthrough against an impressive Macedonia team.

Wayne Rooney, returning to the team following the suspension imposed after his World Cup red-card against Portugal, cut a frustrated and out-of-form figure and was substituted in the second half.

"It's a very disappointed group of players in the dressing room, but rightly so because we have not performed as we know we should have done," said McClaren whose team travel to Croatia on Wednesday without the suspended Gerrard.

"We have gained a point from the game, but we expect to beat Macedonia and we certainly expect to score against them in a home game."

Croatia warmed-up for Wednesday's game with a 7-0 mauling of Andorra with Mladen Petric grabbing four goals.

McClaren's problems are nothing compared to those of under-fire Spain coach Luis Aragones whose team, beaten by Northern Ireland 3-2 last month, slumped to 2-0 loss at Group F leaders Sweden.

Goals from Johan Elmander and Marcus Allback handed the hosts their third win in as many games.

"My future doesn't depend on me, it's up to the federation - and perhaps one or two journalists," said Aragones who had controversially dropped Real Madrid star Raul for the match.

Italy boosted their chances of qualifying for the finals with a hard-fought 2-0 win against Ukraine who were without talismanic striker Andriy Shevchenko.

The pressure was on the world champions after taking just one point from their first two Group B matches against Lithuania and France.

But they rose to the challenge with Massimo Oddo converting a 70th-minute penalty before Luca Toni added the second with 10 minutes left.

Another coach under the cosh Marco van Basten, who has faced a player revolt in recent weeks, saw his Dutch side grab a 1-1 draw in Bulgaria.

But they slipped to second in Group G on goals scored from Romania who beat Belarus 3-1.

There was no shortage of goals on Saturday.

Wales slumped to their heaviest home defeat in almost a century when they lost 5-1 to Slovakia while, in the same Group D, the Czech Republic crushed San Marino 7-0 with Jan Koller and Milan Baros grabbing two goals apiece.

The Republic of Ireland, also in Group D, were thrashed 5-2 by minnows Cyprus.

It was a second successive defeat for Steve Staunton's Irishmen who also finished the game with 10 men after defender Richard Dunne was red-carded.

In Group A, Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal beat Azerbaijan 3-0 but Serbia are top after a 1-0 win over Belgium.
 
(AFP October 8, 2006)