DLSP 10-41 St Mary's Wayne Rooney became England's youngest-ever scorer as he helped them recover from a woeful first-half performance to win in a European Championship qualifier against Macedonia in Skopje.
Rooney smashed Michael Owen's record when he equalised Gorgi Hristov's first-half effort after 52 minutes at the age of 17 years and 317 days. Then 10 minutes later a David Beckham penalty - after John Terry had been fouled - secured victory for Sven-Goran Eriksson's team.
The result, however, was overshadowed by yet more crowd unrest in an England international soccer match. However this time it appeared to be the home supporters who were causing the problems and the English FA are believed to be ready to lodge a protest with UEFA over racist abuse that Ashley Cole and Emile Heskey received.
Meanwhile at the San Siro, Wales went down 4-0 to an impressive Italian team that took a huge step towards the Euro 2004 Championships and claimed revenge against Mark Hughes side following their 2-1 defeat in Cardiff.
A stunning second-half hat-trick in the space of 11 minutes by AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi put Italy in control before Alessandro Del Piero's penalty completed the rout. The scoreline was harsh on Wales who battled valiantly against the home side and more than held their own during the first half. Italy now have 13 points from 6 matches one more than Wales and four ahead of third-placed Finland.
Scotland's hopes of Euro 2004 qualification were handed a boost after their 3-1 victory against international minnows the Faroe Islands. The Scots were keen to avoid a repeat of their infamous 2-2 draw last year and Neil McCann's opener on eight minutes suggested that Berti Vogts side would make amends for that result.
However, Julian Johnsson headed in an equaliser for the visitors on 35 minutes after Douglas made a hash of his clearance. In stoppage time of the first half, Paul Dickov netted his first goal for his country when he was on the end of Crawford's cross and his shot first-time bounced up before eluding Mikkelsen. James McFadden came off the bench in the second half and his 74th-minute strike made sure of the result.
Filed by Rob Wright
