Manchester United striker Louis Saha scored on his international debut as France won their 14th successive match by beating Belgium 2-0 last night.
The European champions, who were without their usual strikers Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet through injury, failed to impress against an awkward Belgian side as they started their build-up to this summer's European Championship finals in Portugal.
"It was important to go on with our string of victories. We managed to do so despite a good Belgian side," said coach Jacques Santini. "For Louis and Peguy (Luyindula) it was not easy. They got what they came for since Louis scored and Peguy is involved in the first goal."
Olympique Lyon forward Sidney Govou opened the scoring after 45 minutes when he pushed the ball into the empty net after Belgium goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger failed to block a shot from Saha.
The Manchester United recruit doubled the tally 15 minutes from time when he was set up by Zinedine Zidane to slot the ball past second-choice goalkeeper Frederic Herpoel. Belgium had only one real chance when a free kick by midfielder Peter Van Der Heyden hit the bar after an hour.
France have not conceded a goal since a 3-2 win over Turkey in their Confederations Cup semi-final in June. The French defence, marshalled by Marcel Desailly, proved too strong for Belgium to be a real threat to Fabien Barthez.
"We were a bit lucky. I'm happy for Louis. First cap, first goal, it's nice," said Zidane.
SWITZERLAND: Morocco, fielding a reserve side after their recent African Nations Cup exertions, stunned a disjointed Switzerland 2-1 yesterday evening.
Second-half goals from Ahmed Ajeddou and substitute Mohssine Iajour left the Euro 2004 finalists in disarray, before they saved some face with a last-minute goal from striker Alexander Frei.
Morocco, beaten in the final of the African Nations Cup by Tunisia last Saturday, fielded a side that included only three players with full international experience, but none who were involved last weekend. Most of their team were young Olympic squad players but they showed greater enthusiasm and movement than a sluggish Swiss side looking like a team whose domestic league restarted only last week.
ISRAEL: Israel celebrated their first home international match for almost a year with a 6-0 win over Azerbaijan in a one-sided friendly.
Shlomi Arbeitman opened the scoring after only nine minutes of his international debut and went on to score a hat-trick as Israel gave their fans something to cheer after almost a year of playing internationals at neutral venues. Israel has been deemed off limits by UEFA since March 2002 because of the unstable security situation in the region. The ban is due to be reviewed in April, although friendlies do not fall under UEFA's jurisdiction and have therefore not been banned.
The match marked a dream debut for 18-year-old Arbeitman, of Betar Jerusalem, who put Israel ahead after nine minutes and then added two more in the second half (65 and 69), one with a cheeky back-heel and then with a shot at the second attempt after he had miscued his first go at slotting home from close range. Israel were rewarded with more goals from Maccabi Haifa midfielder Idan Tal and two from team-mate striker Yaniv Katan.
CYPRUS: Cyprus lost on home soil yesterday, going down 2-0 to Belarus in the Cyprus International Tournament - which also features Hungary, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Armenia.
FAROE ISLANDS: Andorra were due to host Faroe Islands yesterday, but the game was postponed. Ireland will play the Islands at home on Wednesday, October 13th.
