There were bright hopes for the Northern Irish going into the qualifiers but they now have their work cut out after slumping to a 3-0 defeat by Iceland in their opening fixture. Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes were in the side as Eidur Gudjohnsen inspired the visitors to victory, sealing the points before the interval after earlier goals from Gunnar Thorvaldsson and Charlton's Hermann Hreidarsson. There was more disappointment for Mark Delaney as Wales conceded two goals from substitute David Lafata as their resistance against the Czech Republic was ended late on in Teplice. John Toshack's team did equalise in between courtesy of an own goal but were left to rue a number of missed chances against a Czech outfit missing the injured Milan Baros.
Sweden, with Mellberg in defence, were equally impressive in Latvia and earned the win their performance merited when Kim Källström struck early on. In Group G Villa new boy Stilian Petrov's Bulgarian side looked set for defeat as they entered the latter stages of their match against Romania two-goals down. But Martin Petrov scored two quickfire goals to earn the visitors a share of the spoils.