LONDON (AP) -Unconvincing wins for Italy, England and Portugal were all overshadowed Saturday when France started its attempt to qualify for the 2010 World Cup with a humbling 3-1 defeat at Austria.
While Italy won 2-1 at Cyprus and England beat Andorra 2-0, France continued to show the same poor form that brought a surprise first-round exit from this year's European Championship by losing to a team 91 places below it in FIFA's world rankings.
Philippe Mexes, with an own goal, Rene Aufhauser and Andreas Ivanschitz scored for the home side in Vienna to deal a heavy blow to a France team that faces a tough Serbia team in its next match on Wednesday
Italy at least escaped with victory following an injury-time goal from Antonio Di Natale, while England needed two second-half goals from substitute Joe Cole to end the jeers from their own supporters at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium.
Portugal did better with a 4-0 win at Malta, but that came only after it added three goals in the last 29 minutes after clinging to a first-half own goal for much of the match.
Lukas Podolski scored twice to lead Euro 2008 runner-up Germany to a 6-0 rout of Liechtenstein, but none of the other favored teams performed at their best.
Austria took the lead in the eighth minute against 1998 World Cup champion France when Mexes misjudged a curling free kick by captain Andreas Ivanschitz and pushed the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Austria made it 2-0 in the 41st from a similar situation, with Aufhauser hitting a 10-meter (yard) shot from another free kick into the net via a slight deflection off defender William Gallas.
France increased its tempo in the second half with Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry both looking dangerous, and Benzema crossed to set up Sidney Gouvou for a French goal in the 61st.
Jeremy Toulalan hit the crossbar for France moments later but Austria sealed the win in the 72nd. Mexes pulled down Marc Janko in the area and Danish referee Claus Bo Larsen awarded a penalty, which Ivanschitz converted.
But Lithuania and not Austria was the surprise early leader of Group 7 following a shock 3-0 win at Romania, while Serbia beat visiting Faeroe Islands 2-0.
Italy appeared on track for a routine Group 8 victory at Cyprus when Di Natale put Italy ahead in the eighth minute. But Efstathios Aloneftis equalized in the 29th and Elias Charalambous had two late chances to put Cyrpus ahead, shooting past the post and having a shot blocked by defender Fabio Cannavaro.
Two minutes into injury time, Cyprus still looked set to take at least a point from the match but Di Natale met a looped ball in the area with a volley past goalkeeper Antonis Giorgallidi.
