Italy made its bid to qualify for next year's European Championship a lot more difficult Saturday, and England made it much more likely.

The World Cup champions were held to a 0-0 draw with France, dropping into third place in Group B with four matches to go.

England, however, successfully completed the first step of its six-point plan by beating Israel 3-0.

The other three points in the plan could come Wednesday, when England hosts Russia in a key Group E match that is likely to leave one of the two teams facing elimination.

Russia beat Macedonia 3-0 to stay one point ahead of England with four matches to go. Croatia, which leads the group with 20 points after beating Estonia 2-0, and Israel are also in position to claim one of the two qualifying spots from the group.

There were 20 Euro 2008 qualifying matches Saturday, with Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic also getting wins.

Malta produced the biggest surprise of the day, holding 2002 World Cup semi-finalist Turkey to a 2-2 draw.

Brian Said and Andre Schembri each gave Malta the lead, but Halil Altintop equalised first for Turkey and Servet Cetin again in the 78th.

Neither Italy nor France could make much headway against the other.

Gianluigi Buffon and Italy's solid defence proved too good for France forwards Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka, and Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi were too slow at the other end.

"As far as the standings are concerned, it's wide open," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said.

"But I'm not making any calculations."

Italy hasn't beaten France without the help of penalties since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

The Azzurri won last year's World Cup final in a shoot-out, then lost in France 3-1 two months later to open Euro 2008 qualifying.

France leads Group B with 19 points. Scotland, which beat Lithuania 3-1, is next with 18 points, followed by Italy with 17. Only the top two teams in each of the seven groups qualify along with co-hosts Austria and Switzerland.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Owen and Micah Richards each scored for England, which entered the day in fourth place in Group E.

"It does our goal difference a world of good. The performance was just the icing on the cake. We made Israel look ordinary," England coach Steve McClaren said.

Wright-Phillips, who scored his first competitive international goal, made it 1-0 in the 20th minute with a volley after Joe Cole's cross.

Owen added another in the 49th - his 38th goal in his 85th international appearance - and Richards scored his first international goal in the 66th, jumping to head in a corner from Gareth Barry.

England has 17 points from eight games and Israel has 17 from nine.

"There's obvious gaps between us and the England side, and it was a well-known fact," Israel coach Dror Kashtan said.

"These are not excuses, these are plain, simple facts."

Russia improved to 18 points by beating Macedonia with goals from Vasiliy Berezutskiy, Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov.

Miroslav Klose, playing as Germany's captain for the first time, scored both goals in his team's 2-0 win over Wales.

The Czech Republic got goals from Tomas Rosicky, Marek Jankulovski and Jan Koller in a 3-0 win over 10-man San Marino.

Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a goal each to help the Netherlands beat Bulgaria 2-0.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP