Australia held France to a 1-1 draw in an acrimonious friendly international in Melbourne which left the French striker Christophe Dugarry out for at least three months with a knee injury.
Australia's Craig Moore, just before half-time, and France's David Trezeguet, just after, scored the goals but the game erupted when the Australia defender Kevin Muscat brought down Dugarry, twisting the striker's knee between his own legs. Muscat was surrounded by angry French players before being shown the yellow card and was immediately substituted.
The Turks have finally gained a victory over Austria in Vienna. They had lost all their previous encounters in the capital, including being repulsed by Austrian forces during the siege of Vienna way back in 1683.
"We conquered Vienna" and "Vienna has fallen" trumpeted the Turkish press after Saturday's 1-0 win in the first leg of their World Cup play-off. Okan Buruk's 60th-minute goal has put Turkey a draw away from qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1954. The teams meet again in Istanbul for the second leg on Wednesday.
A well-taken goal from Milan Osterc gave Slovenia a 2-1 victory over Romania. The Hapoel Tel Aviv forward, who scored in his club's 1-1 draw with Chelsea which put the London club out of the Uefa Cup, scored from 20 yards after a mistake in the Romania defence.
Slovenia must now hold on in the second leg on Wednesday in Bucharest to qualify for the finals for the first time.
The Belgium striker Gert Verheyen scored the only goal against the Czech Republic in Brussels. The Czechs will be without the West Ham defender Tomas Repka for Wednesday's second leg after he was sent off for the third time this season before half-time.
A quick free-kick from Sven Vermant was passed to the captain Verheyen who struck the ball past the Czech goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek in the 28th minute.