England, captained by Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, lost 1-0 in France after Portsmouth goalkeeper David James conceeded a first-half penalty for bringing down Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka in the area.

France's Franck Ribery converted the spot-kick to give the home side the lead. On a night where former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham earned his 100th England cap, the Three Lions could not find the equaliser and condemned new England manager Fabio Capello to his first defeat.

Derby County's Kenny Miller cancelled out Portsmouth midfielder Niko Krankjcar's opening goal as Scotland drew with Croatia.

Fulham striker David Healy scored in Northern Ireland's 4-1 win over Georgia. Healy was playing in a team made up largely of Barclays Premier League players, including Fulham team-mates Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes and the on-loan Steven Davis.

opening goal

A Wales side featuring Wigan Athletic's Jason Koumas and Fulham's Simon Davies beat Luxembourg 2-0, thanks to two goals from Freddie Eastwood.

Middlesbough's Tuncay Sanli scored in Turkey's 2-2 draw with Belarus, while Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko hit the back of the net during Ukraine's victory over Serbia.

Elsewhere, Fulham's Jari Litmanen scored for Finland in their 2-1 defeat to Bulgaria and Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun scored in Israel's 1-0 win over Chile.

John Carew of Aston Villa and Norway scored in his country's 3-1 defeat to Montenegro. Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner scored the opening goal in Denmark's 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic, while Chelsea's Michael Essien opened the scoring for Ghana in their defeat to Mexico.