Switzerland scored an emphatic 6-0 win over the Faroe Islands and Estonia thumped Luxembourg 4-0 on a day of 21 European World Cup qualifiers yesterday.
In early action there were other fine wins for Ireland, who beat Cyprus 3-0 and Poland, who beat N. Ireland 3-0 in Belfast as most of the European countries bidding for a place in the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006 began their campaigns.
Other World Cup qualifiers were being played in Africa, South America and the Caribbean but Europe was the centre of attention with the likes of Euro champions Greece, France, Italy and England all involved in late matches.
Switzerland showed the Faroese no mercy in Basel with Jonathan Vonlanthen and Alexander Rey both scoring hat-tricks.
Estonia, one of a handful of teams who started their World Cup qualifiers last month with a 2-1 win over Liechtenstein, maintained their 100 per cent start with a 4-0 win over Luxembourg who finished with 10 men after Daniel Huss was sent off in the first half.
Estonia have far tougher matches to play against Portugal, Slovakia, Russia and Latvia, but for now they lead Group Three with a maximum haul of six points.
Russia and Slovakia drew 1-1 in the same group in Moscow. Russia missed a penalty and dropped points with Slovakia equalising three minutes from the end.
The game was played amid tight security following a series of attacks linked to Chechen separatists in the last few weeks.
Northern Ireland face an uphill battle to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 in a group that includes England and Austria as well as Wales and Azerbaijan who drew 1-1 in Baku.
The Northern Irish got off to the worst start possible against Poland who had their second goalscorer Piotr Wlodarczyk sent off for elbowing 11 minutes from the end.
Maciej Zurawski opened the scoring in the Group Six match after only four minutes with a goal direct from a corner, followed by further goals from Wlodarczyk and Jacek Krzynowek.
Wlodarczyk will miss Poland's match with England on Wednesday.