By Chris O'Brien
September 20 2006

Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Kieran Richardson and Michael Carrick were all in England action as Steve McClaren's men secured wins over Andorra and Macedonia. Meanwhile, there were mixed fortunes for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

England got their Euro 2008 qualification campaign off to the perfect start with victories over Andorra and Macedonia.

Former Manchester United assistant Steve McClaren maintained his unbeaten record since taking over the England job as his side cruised to a 5-0 victory against tiny Andorra before labouring to a single-goal victory in eastern Europe.

Kieran Richardson and Wesley Brown were included as two strikes from Peter Crouch, a Jermaine Defoe brace and a Steven Gerrard goal gave the English a comfortable win at Old Trafford in the opening match of this new crusade.

However, the trip to Macedonia proved much more difficult and, with Neville, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand both taking part, a scrappy strike from lanky Crouch was just enough to secure a fortunate escape for the highly-paid stars of England. Out-on-loan goalkeeper Ben Foster warmed the substitutions bench.

Meanwhile, Ryan Giggs was in action for Wales as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat in the Czech Republic. John Toshack's men put in a brave performance and deserved something for their endeavour, but David Lafata netted a brace with an own-goal from Martin Jiranek offering the visitors only false home. Wales followed this result up with another loss - a 2-0 defeat to Brazil in a glamour friendly at White Hart Lane.

Walter Smith, another former United assistant now managing on the international stage, helped Scotland to an excellent start to their qualifying campaign as they secured back-to-back victories. Darren Fletcher was on the scoresheet as the Scots hammered the Faroe Islands 6-0 at Celtic Park, before narrowly beating Lithuania away from home.

Northern Ireland had a Jekyll & Hyde start to proceedings - crashing to a 3-0 home defeat against Iceland before stunning Spain and Windsor Park with a sensational 3-2 win. Ex-United striker David Healy bagged an impressive hat-trick as Lawrie Sanchez silenced his growing critics with a major scalp.

And away from the British Isles....

Louis Saha found the net for France as they cruised to a 3-0 win against Georgia. Les Bleus then gained revenge for their World Cup woes with a 3-1 victory over Italy; this time without Saha's services.

John O'Shea couldn't help the Republic of Ireland avoid a 1-0 defeat in Germany, whilst Edwin Van Der Sar kept clean sheets against Luxembourg and Belarus as the Dutch began with back-to-back victories.

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer helped Norway kick-off their qualification adventure with a 4-1 win over Hungary. The much-loved United striker found the net after only fifteen minutes, but he was used only as a second-half substitute during the week as goals from Fredrik Stromstad and Steffen Iversen helped the Scandinavians to a 2-0 win over 10-man Moldova.

Cristiano Ronaldo was also in international action as his Portugal side drew 1-1 with Finland.

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