SPAIN 4 NORTHERN IRELAND 1 LAWRIE McMENEMY saw his new team go down to the first defeat of his career in international management in Santander last night, as World Cup finalists Spain responded to the fiesta mood of the send-off crowd by playing some excellent football. The Irish had little answer to some slick passing that repeatedly opened them up, and their consolation goal should surely have been disallowed. Spanish coach Javier Clemente fielded an under-strength side, with Fernando Ruiz Hierro, Alfonso Perez, Luis Enrique, Miguel Angel Nadal, Carlos Aguilera, Rafael Alkorta and Fernando Morientes all left on the bench. In spite of this, Spain created the first opening in the third minute, when Joseba Etxeberria swung over a corner for Juan Pizzi to send in a looping header which Alan Fettis easily gathered. The World Cup-bound Spanish quickly settled into their passing game in front of a less-than-capacity crowd and Gerry Taggart and Steve Morrow were called upon to make timely interventions in their own box. Etxeberria then dragged a chance wide after Northern Ireland failed to clear their lines in the 10th minute. The Irish were restricted to the occasional break, the best of which came when Jon McCarthy escaped down the right and sent over a teasing cross, but stand-in skipper Iain Dowie could not get over the ball. Spain continued to pin the Irish down in their own half and after 16 minutes Pizzi twice went close to scoring. The Barcelona striker turned in the box and unleashed a shot, only for it to cannon off Julen Guerrero. Then, less than 60 seconds later, he fired past the post from a good position on the left. Fettis then had to block a Pizzi shot midway through the half, but the Barcelona forward finally scored after half an hour, thanks to a piece of astute play by Sergi. He caught the visitors sleeping when he released Raul with a quickly-taken freekick and the Real Madrid striker centred for Pizzi to score. It was all to easy for him, left with an open goal from four yards. Pizzi then netted his eighth goal on his 21st international appearance when he headed home Etxeberria's corner in the 37th minute. The marking was poor, and the Spanish seemed to be coasting. But then Northern Ireland surprisingly reduced the deficit just before the break when goalkeeper Canizares appeared to misjudge Michael Hughes� cross and Gerry Taggart headed home his seventh goal for his country. However, replays indicated that Dowie had an arm across the keeper�s shoulder, preventing him from getting off the ground, though Dowie himself had no chance of reaching the ball. Any hopes of an unlikely Irish comeback were snuffed out immediately after the restart, though. Substitute Fernando Morientes, who replaced Pizzi at half-time, restored Spain�s two-goal advantage when he raced through to score his third international goal in only his second game. He turned past Taggart 25 yards out and scored with ease. The 22-year-old then continued his fantastic start to his international career when he headed home Spain's fourth and his second on 66 minutes. Agustin Aranzabal played a one-two with Alfonso before he crossed for the Real Madrid striker to turn the ball home. If it wasn�t for the fact that they are perennial underachievers, the Spanish would be travelling to France with some confidence after a display like this. But whatever their record in major tournaments, on this form they will take some beating. For McMenemy�s men, the one true consolation is that they were up against one of the best teams in Europe, if not the world. MALTA 0 WALES 3 WALES boss Bobby Gould hailed teenager Craig Bellamy's first full international performance after the Cardiff-born youngster scored the first and made the second goal in last night�s 3-0 win against Malta in Valletta. The 19-year-old Norwich midfielder set the Welsh on the road to a comfortable victory with a 25th-minute strike before setting up John Hartson for the second. A Mark Pembridge penalty after 77 minutes killed the game on a night when the kids came good for gambler Gould. The Welsh coach said: �I had a special feeling about Bellamy in this match. I felt the boy could explode from midfield � and that's just what he did. He took the first goal so well and then created a brilliant second for Hartson. Watching a boy � in fact so many youngsters � come into the side and do so well makes a manager very happy.� The game, initially, was all about Wolves� wonderkid Ryan Green who created history by becoming the youngest Welsh full international at 17 years and 226 days old. He too had an impressive debut in a sweeping role. But it was Bellamy, who had previously had only 33 minutes of international action as a substitute in the March draw with Jamaica, who stole the show. Southampton�s Andy Williams started an international for the first time and did well on the right, while Bellamy's Norwich pal Chris Llewelyn also made his debut as a second-half substitute. But just whether boss Bobby Gould leaves the babes in the side when his team play World Cup finalists Tunisia in front of 70,000 in Tunis on Saturday remains to be seen.

LAST NIGHT�S WORLD CUP WARM-UPS   Romania 3 Paraguay 2 A GHEORGHE HAGI penalty seven minutes from time gave Romania a 3-2 victory over fellow World Cup contenders Paraguay; the 33-year-old Romanian captain making no mistake to record his 33rd goal for Romania in his 110th game. Rising star Adrian Ilie had earlier scored twice for the east Europeans but Paraguay hit back with two goals of their own through Jose Cardozo and Roberto Acuna. Valencia forward Ilie, nicknamed 'The Cobra' for his ability to strike from nowhere, scored his first goal after only four minutes when he headed home after good work from Viorel Moldovan. Romania, who face England, Colombia and Tunisia in Group G in France, were pegged back when Cardoso equalised for Paraguay after 27 minutes. Hagi and Acuna both hit the crossbar before half-time but it was Ilie who restored Romania's lead 12 minutes into the second half following a superb Hagi free-kick. Within five minutes Paraguay, who lost 5-1 to the Netherlands on Monday, levelled again with a superb 25-metre shot from Acuna, only for Hagi to have last word. Belgium 2 Colombia 0 COLOMBIA, another of England�s World Cup rivals, suffered a further set-back in Brussels last night in their preparations for the finals, where they meet Glenn Hoddle�s men in the last group match. A spectacular 30-yard drive from Marc Wilmots helped condemn the Colombians to their second defeat in four days after their 3-1 loss to Germany on Saturday. A Danny Boffin header and Wilmots drive put the Belgians in control after only half an hour and Colombia never looked like getting back into the match. Brazil 3 Andorra 0 BRAZIL strolled to a 3-0 win over Andorra last night in a friendly which brought together the world champions and one of international soccer's tiniest nations. The game represented the biggest moment in Andorra's brief soccer history but, despite its romantic appeal, the encounter was of dubious value to Brazil who never seemed remotely interested in beating their record victory score of 10-1 against Bolivia recorded in 1949. Andorra held out for 24 minutes before Giovanni gave Brazil the lead after they failed to clear a corner. One minute later, Rivaldo made it 2-0, easily scoring after being set up by Ronaldo. Cafu grabbed the third in the 53rd minute. Worryingly for Mario Zagallo, star striker Ronaldo looked distinctly off-colour and his striking parter Bebeto, who replaced the injured and homebound Romario, was again subdued. Craotia 2 Iran 0 GOALS from Robert Prosinecki and Davor Suker gave Croatia an unconvincing 2-0 win over fellow finalists Iran in their penultimate warm-up friendly before the World Cup. Prosinecki scored with a typical free kick after half an hour but Iran missed a penalty before Suker ended a four-game drought with the second 14 minutes from time. While the Croats were never at their best, the result at least will have restored their morale after last Friday's shock 2-1 home defeat by Slovakia. Yugoslavia 1 Japan 0 A TRADEMARK free kick from sweeper Sinisa Mihajlovic gave Yugoslavia a 1-0 win over fellow World Cup finalists Japan. Italian-based Mihajlovic stepped up to blast home with his left foot from 20 metres in the 70th minute after substitute Savo Milosevic had been fouled. Japan, preparing for their first World Cup finals, played some neat football but paid the penalty for failing to take two clear-cut chances early in the second half. They also hit the bar in the first 45 minutes. The Japanese sensationally dropped record scorer Kazu Miura from their squad for the finals, days after he netted all three in a friendly against a Swiss club side. Saudi Arabia 0 Mexico 0 SAUDI ARABIA produced a solid performance against a patchy Mexican side to force a 0-0 draw in a World Cup warm-up match for both teams, in Paris. For the Saudis, the result put the team back on track after last week's 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Norway interrupted a five-match spell in which the team had not lost and had conceded just two goals. That defeat came in large part as a result of having two men sent off in teh first half. For this match they managed to hang on to 11 men, and return to form. Mexico, struggling to find any kind of form for the finals, struggled against a sharp Saudi team in the first half but had the best of the game after the break, but without scoring.

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