Teenager Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick as an inspired England crushed 10-man Croatia 4-1 in their World Cup Group Six qualifier in Zagreb last night. It was the first defeat in 36 competitive games on home soil for the Croats since 1994.
In Udine, Daniele De Rossi scored twice as holders Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in their second qualifier to go top of Group Eight.
The midfielder opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a blistering left-footed strike and sealed victory in the 89th with a diagonal shot after being picked out by Alessandro Del Piero in the box.
France turned round a poor start to their campaign by beating Serbia 2-1 courtesy of second-half goals by captain Thierry Henry and fellow striker Nicolas Anelka as second-half goals from John Heitinga and Rafael van der Vaart helped Netherlands to a 2-1 victory in Macedonia in their opening Group Nine qualifier.
After an evenly balanced first 20 minutes, England scored following a mistake by Croatia defender Danijel Pranjic. The ball broke kindly for 19-year-old Walcott, who shot in across the keeper for his first international goal.
Kovac was sent off in the 51st minute for a violent foul on Joe Cole. Walcott scored his second in the 59th minute with a copy of his first goal with help from Wayne Rooney.
Just four minutes later, Rooney got himself on the scoreboard after a great cross from substitute Jermaine Jenas, who had come on to replace Cole.
Croatia's forward Mario Mandzukic scored in the 78th minute, his first goal for the national team.
The finishing touch on Walcott's brilliant evening came eight minutes from time when the Arsenal player was again assisted by Rooney and left the helpless Croatia defence behind to easily slot the ball home past Stipe Pletikosa.
World champions Italy now have six points from two games after Saturday's 2-1 win in Cyprus, two more than Ireland. Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi was looking for a reaction from his side, who were outplayed by Cyprus for long spells in their opener and were lucky to return from Larnaca with a win.
They responded with a confident start, stringing together some crisp passes.
Luca Toni had a shout for a penalty turned down for a tug by Georgia captain Kakha Kaladze in the eighth minute and forward Antonio Di Natale came close with a deflected shot.
The hosts eased up after going ahead and Georgia midfielder Levan Kenia squandered a great chance to equalize in the 26th minute, when he failed with two short-range attempts with the goal begging at the end of rapid counter-attack.
But otherwise the Azzurri sat comfortably on their lead until half-time.
Georgia made a couple of fast breaks after the re-start before the second half slipped back into the uneventful rhythm of the first.
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon rushed off his line well to hoof the ball away from Georgia's Levan Kobiashvili's feet in a dangerous position and saved a powerful late strike by Kenia before De Rossi's second gave the home side a flattering 2-0 victory.
France had slumped to an embarrassing 3-1 defeat by Austria in their opening Group Seven game on Saturday in Vienna and the French media had speculated coach Raymond Domenech would lose his job if the World Cup runners-up did not win this time.
Striker Henry showed them the way on a mild evening at the Stade de France, collecting a through ball by Sidney Govou to hit the back of the net on 54 minutes.
Substitute Anelka doubled the advantage with a fine goal 10 minutes later, twisting his way past two defenders to strike from the edge of the box.
Serbia, who started with a lacklustre 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands, reduced the arrears with a header from a corner by Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic 14 minutes from time.