Louis Saha completed the most memorable month of his career on Wednesday when he scored on his international debut to secure France's 2-0 win over Belgium in a friendly international in Brussels.
Saha, 25, who moved from Fulham to Manchester United for 12.8 million pounds ($24.40 million) in January, struck after 76 minutes as the European champions extended their winning run to 14 matches. Sydney Govou put them ahead just before halftime.
There were also wins for Germany and the Netherlands on the year's first major night of international soccer in the build-up to the European Championship in Portugal.
Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by England in Faro in a match seen as a dress rehearsal for the two finalists both on and off the pitch.
Defender Ledley King bundled home England's opener after 47 minutes before striker Pauleta equalised with a long-range free-kick 20 minutes from time.
Early reports indicated there was little or no trouble caused by fans at the match in which there were more substitutions than thrills.
Germany needed a last-minute goal from substitute Carsten Ramelow to beat fellow European finalists Croatia 2-1 in Split.
Ramelow's shot took a vicious deflection off midfielder Jerko Leko. Miroslav Klose opened the scoring for the visitors after 34 minutes before Mato Neretljak appeared to have secured a draw with an 86th-minute header.
The Netherlands, drawn in the same group as Germany in the opening phase of the finals, also secured a narrow win, beating a determined United States 1-0 at the Amsterdam Arena.
Arjen Robben scored the only legitimate goal of the game on 57 minutes after Ruud van Nistelrooy was booked for blatantly punching the ball in during the first half and claiming a goal.
Spain, who meet neighbours Portugal in the opening phase of the finals, came through a tricky match against Peru, winning 2-1 in Barcelona after trailing to a 21st-minute goal by Nolberto Solano.
Joseba Etxeberria (31) and Ruben Baraja (33) completed the scoring before halftime.
Italy, another side expecting to do well in Portugal, seemed to have done enough in Palermo to end the Czech Republic's long unbeaten run when Antonio Di Natale headed the Euro 2000 runners-up 2-1 up after 86 minutes.
But Tomas Rosicky equalised a minute from time with a stunning shot from the edge of the penalty area to extend the Czech's unbeaten sequence to 20 matches stretching back to November 2001.
Christian Vieri had given Italy the lead after 14 minutes with a scrappy goal before Jiri Stajner equalised with a header just before halftime.
DROUGHT ENDED
While the Czechs were only too pleased to keep one long sequence running, Northern Ireland rejoiced as another one ended.
They went into their friendly against Norway in Belfast without a goal in 13 matches and 1,242 minutes -- an unwanted European record.
But their barren spell ended 11 minutes into the second half -- after 21 hours and 38 minutes of goalless soccer -- when David Healy headed in from close range to score their first goal since February, 2002 when they lost 4-1 to Poland.
The fact his side were trailing 3-0 at the time hardly mattered to the players or fans and despite eventually losing 4-1 new coach Lawrie Sanchez was a relatively happy man.
"That's one monkey off our back, now we've got to get a victory under our belt," he said.
Northern Ireland scored one more goal than their southern neighbours Ireland, though they did hold world champions Brazil to a 0-0 draw in Dublin.
Brazil's Ronaldinho was closest to scoring with a shot that clipped the top of the bar, although Ireland striker Robbie Keane wasted a gilt-edged chance in the second half as he headed over when it looked easier to score.
SURPRISE DEFEATS
In earlier action, there were surprise defeats for Euro finalists Switzerland and Sweden.
Sweden went down 2-1 to Albania in Tirana, while the Swiss were beaten by a second-string Morocco side 2-1 in Rabat.
The match went ahead only after Switzerland refused to play the Raja Casablanca club side when the Moroccans said their first-team squad was too tired after losing the African Nations Cup final on Saturday.
Greece got the better of fellow 2004 finalists Bulgaria 2-0 in Athens, and Denmark edged non-qualifiers Turkey 1-0 in Adana.
Israel enjoyed a rare victory on home soil, crushing Azerbaijan 6-0 with 18-year-old Shlomi Arbeitman scoring a hat-trick on his international debut.
Robert Earnshaw of Wales was another hat-trick hero as his side overwhelmed Scotland 4-0 in Cardiff.
