Northern Ireland midfielder Neil Lennon may well be considering his international future.

The 29-year-old was booed by part of the Belfast crowd during the firsthalf of the friendly with Norway - which the home team lost 4-0 - who were annoyed by him moving to Celtic. Thorstein Helstad scored twice in the game and John Carew and Stale Stensaas added one each before a crowd of 7,502.

Lennon, making his 36th appearance, was replaced at halftime and left the ground immediately.

Celtic striker Henrik Larsson transferred his outstanding club form onto the international stage as Sweden romped to a 3-0 victory over Malta in Valletta.

Larsson, who has scored 40 goals for the Bhoys in their march towards a domestic Treble in Scotland, scored one and created the other two in Sweden's successful trip to the Maltese capital.

Karl Corneliusson made no mistake when he scored the opener with only goalkeeper Ernest Barry to beat after Larsson dummied the defenders to create his chance, while Larsson, set up by Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg, scored with a brilliantly executed chip five minutes before the break.

Larsson provided the pass for Hakan Mild to add the third.

In the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Argentina's striker Hernan Crespo was the key man in defeating Italy.

Crespo struck the winner - in his club stadium - as the Argentines came from behind to beat Italy 2-1 their first outright win over the "Azzurri" in 35 years.

Goals from Kily Gonzalez and Crespo deservedly gave the visitors the spoils after Stefano Fiore had put Italy in front.

Crespo rounded off a hugely successful night for the Argentines, who are top of the South American qualifying group, three minutes into the second period.

Valencia's record signing Pablo Aimar fed Kily Gonzalez on the left and his cross was sidefooted home first time by Crespo.

Probably the most disappointing match of the night was the fare served up by Holland and Turkey in Amsterdam, who played out a sterile 0-0 draw.

By contrast one of England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup qualifying opponents, Greece fought out a six-goal thriller against Russia - the Greeks equalising in injury-time to force a 3-3 draw after letting a two goal lead slip.

Eriksson's first opponents in World Cup warfare, Finland, also won, beating Luxembourg 1-0. The goal came from Mikael Forssell, the Chelsea striker currently on loan at Crystal Palace.

While Eriksson was enjoying his first match in charge of England, coaches Mirko Jozic of Croatia and Victor Pua of Uruguay were also smiling after debut wins.

Croatia, who reached the World Cup semi-finals two years ago but are struggling to qualify this time around, beat Austria 1-0 in Rijeka.

Davor Vugrinec scored the only goal after 35 minutes, giving Arsenal's young Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger no chance.

Uruguay, battling to qualify in the South American qualifying competition, also gave their new coach something to celebrate.

Pua was only named coach last week after Argentine Daniel Passarella quit, and he saw his team beat Slovenia 2-0 in Koper.