By Mitch Phillips

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) France, England and Ireland will attempt to put right damaging weekend results when they get straight back into action amid 22 Euro 2008 qualifiers on Wednesday.

France suffered their first away qualifying defeat for 14 years when they went down 1-0 to Scotland but have the chance to replace that in their immediate memory by putting a hatful of goals past the Faroe Islands in Sochaux.

Having beaten Italy 3-1 in their World Cup final rematch last month France would have thought they were in early control of a really difficult Group B but Scotland's win, and Lithuania's draw against Italy, have shown there is still much to be done.

The Faroes held out until the last minute against Lithuania on Saturday before losing 1-0 and with another mass-defence display expected, the French fans might have to be patient.

Scotland will be desperate to consolidate their famous win by getting something from their trip to Ukraine, who lost 2-0 in Italy on Saturday but who are likely to have striker Andriy Shevchenko back after illness.

The world champions were still some way from their best in that game but should continue their gradual rebuild in Georgia.

England face a much more difficult test when they take on Croatia in Zagreb, where the home side have not lost a competitive game for 12 years since splitting from Yugoslavia, having won 20 and drawn 10 of their 30 matches.

England, toothless in their 0-0 home draw with Macedonia, would still be looking good in Group E if they could end that record while the Croats, who thumped Andorra 7-0, would really start to fancy their own chances if they could grab all three points.

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