Holland beaten by Klinsmann penalty

JURGEN Klinsmann scored from the penalty spot against Holland in Rotterdam last night to give Germany a 1-0 win over their Euro '96 rivals.

Klinsmann scored his 35th goal for Germany in the 18th minute after Udinese striker Olivier Bierhoff, winning his second cap, was tripped by Winston Bogarde.

Holland, for whom Jordi Cruyff made his debut 30 years after his father Johan made his, missed a golden opportunity to equalise as Dennis Bergkamp had his 32nd minute penalty saved by Andreas Kopke, after Stefan Reuter had fouled Peter Hoekstra.

The Germans superbly led in midfield by Thomas Hassler held the injury weakened Dutch, missing Aron Winter, Patrick Kluivert and Ronald De Boer, easily for the remainder of the match, only a last minute header by Youri Mulder troubling Kopke.

In the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying group Macedonia beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in Skopje thanks to goals from Saso Milosevski in the first half and a Boban Babunski penalty and Srdjan Zaharievski in the second.

Yugoslavia, laying its first competitive international match for 4 /2 years, beat the Faroe Islands 3-1 in a World Cup qualifier in Belgrade. Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic scored one of the goals with AC Milan playmaker Dejan Savicevic getting two.

European championship participants Switzerland continued their preparations with a 2-0 defeat of Wales in Lugano. Chris Coleman's own goal on 31 minutes and a Kubi Turkyilmaz penalty 10 minutes after were the difference in this match that Switzerland dominated.

Bosnia drew a tight fought game 0-0 with Albania, playing at home in Sarajevo for the first time following the war which broke out when Bosnia declared independence in 1992. Bosnia's first match was played in Albania in December 1995, when Albania won 2-0.

A spectacular hat trick by striker Viorel Moldovan in a 13. minute rush in the first half helped European championship finalists Romania to crush Georgia 5-0 in Bucharest.

Moldovan, who plays for Neuchatel Xamax and is the leading goal scorer in Switzerland scored in the 26th, 30th and 39th minutes. In the second half Marius Lacatus headed a cross from captain Gheorghe Hagi to score the fourth Romanian goal in the 49th minute. Three minutes before the final whistle, substitute Costel Gilen scored Romania's fourth after taking a back pass from Ion Vladoiu.

An experimental Belgium side kept high flying Russia to a 0-0 draw in Brussels. Euro '96 candidates Russia, who beat the Republic of Ireland last month, failed to turn all their individual talent into a winning team performance against a Belgian side rebuilding ahead of the 1998 World Cup campaign.

Austria beat Hungary 2-0 in Budapest thanks to goals in each half from Toni Polster and Stefa Marasekyven though they had defender Michael Hatz sent off in the second half.

Bulgaria continued their subdued build up to the European Championships with a tame 0-1 draw with Slovakia in Trnava Without top striker Hristr Stoichkov who also missed his side's 1-0 friendly defeat last month against England, Bulgaria toothless front line posed no real threat to home goalkeeper Ladislav Molnar.