France suffered a shock 3-1 away defeat to Austria in their World Cup qualifiers opener on Saturday. Forward Marc Janko put the hosts ahead after eight minutes when he converted a long-range free kick from six yards after capitalizing on a slack marking by Philippe Mexes. France once again failed to deal with Austria's set pieces to allow midfielder Rene Aufhauser double the advantage three minutes before the break. Aufhauser's close-range touch deflected off William Gallas and looped over France keeper Steve Mandanda. The visitors pulled one back two minutes past the hour mark through Sidney Govou. The Lyon forward collected a Patrice Evra pass inside the area, turned around and hit a low shot at the near post. But a naïve error by Roma defender Mexes helped Austria seal the win in the 73rd minute. He needlessly brought down Austria's Janko as the referee pointed to the spot. Andreas Ivanschitz stepped up to convert the penalty and kill off France hopes.
Podolski scored twice France coach Raymond Domenech is expected to face fierce criticism over France's lackluster display. The 56-year-old coach was on the brink of being sacked following France's first-round exit at EURO 2008, but the French Football Federation surprisingly kept faith with him. Germany Thrash Liechtenstein A Lukas Podolski doubled led Germany to a thrashing 6-0 victory over minnows Liechtenstein in Group 4 action. Podolski responded to critics at his club, Bayern Munich, after scoring either side of the interval. The 23-year-old is mainly used as a substitute by Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who prefers to field Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose upfront. Simon Rolfes, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Heiko Westermann were also on the scoresheet to help Germany record a convincing win over Liechtenstein.
