International round-up

Last updated : 07 September 2006 By Reggie Holdsworth

Stewart Downing played the full 90 minutes in England's 1-0 win over Macedonia.

It gave England a perfect start to their Euro 2008 qualifiers, after beating Andorra on Saturday, but they were made to work hard for their victory in Skopje. A solitary goal from Peter Crouch early in the second half won the match for England in a game of few chances.

Downing hit a speculative shot over the bar midway through the second half, but much of the time he was pegged back in a more defensive role.

Mark Schwarzer let in two goals as the Aussies lost their Asian Cup qualifier to Kuwait 2-0. The Socceroos, who have already qualified for the finals next summer, succumbed to two early second half goals in 40 degrees of heat.

Emanuel Pogatetz was also on the losing side as Austria lost 1-0 to Venezuela in Basel. An early goal in the first half condemned the Austrian's to defeat in this invitational four team tournament in Switzerland.

Andrew Taylor did not travel to Switzerland with the England U-21's becasuse of an injury. In his abscence the Young Lions won 3-2 with a late goal from James Milner that sealed their progress to the next stage of qualification for the U-21 European Championship next summer.