TWO OF the Republic of Ireland's opponents in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Bulgaria and Montenegro were in action last night. Bulgaria fought back after a Jari Litmanen penalty put Finland ahead after 22 minutes. Zdravko Lazarov equalised after 48 minutes and Stanislav Genchev sealed the win in the last minute. Montenegro had a comfortable 3-1 over Norway in Podgorica.

Striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar hit a late winner for The Netherlands to cap a superb fightback from 3-0 down to seal a 4-3 win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria in a friendly last night. Huntelaar headed home in the 86th minute to complete a turnaround for Marco van Basten's side. Austria went ahead after six minutes through captain Andreas Ivanschitz. Sebastian Proedl headed home an Ivanschitz corner to make it 2-0 after 18 minutes and the duo combined again for Proedl to add a third. Huntelaar began the Dutch fightback eight minutes before the break, John Heitinga got another midway through the second half and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink equalised eight minutes from time.

Midfielder Georgos Karagounis struck twice to give European champions Greece a 2-1 win over Portugal in Duesseldorf last night. Portugal, without Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Jorge Andrade, pulled one back when Nuno Gomes tapped in after good work by substitute Hugo Almeida in the 75th minute.

Germany got their Euro 2008 preparations back on track last night with an emphatic 4-0 win over tournament co-hosts Switzerland in Basel. Two goals from Mario Gomez in between strikes from Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski secured a comfortable win for Joachim Loew's side.

Euro 2008 finalists Poland slumped to a 3-0 defeat to the United States in Krakow last night. Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu and Eddie Lewis scored to heap pressure on Poland coach Leo Beenhakker. "What can I say? We were just not well-prepared," Beenhakker said.