World Cup digest

 Wales 0, Jamaica 0
 CARDIFF, Wales (AP) -- Jamaica's Reggae Boyz, tuning up for their first World Cup appearance, had a player sent off late in the second half but hung on for a 0-0 tie with Wales on Wednesday night under heavy rain at Ninian Park.
 Jamaica played with 10 men after substitute Onandi Lowe, a veteran of the Montreal Impact of the A-League, was shown the red card for elbowing Wales midfielder Paul Trollope in the 83rd minute.
 The incident marred a game that featured free-flowing Jamaican soccer and an enthusiastic atmosphere of Jamaican fans who packed the stadium.
 Wales manager Bobby Gould, who has favored a five-man defence, switched to 4-4-2 against the Reggae Boyz.
 Jamaica started four of its English-based players: Portsmouth's Paul Hall and Fitzroy Simpson, Derby's Deon Burton and Wimbledon star Robbie Earle.
 Gareth Taylor missed three good scoring chances in the first half for Wales.
 Jamaica had only one decent chance in the first half, with Fitzroy Simpson sailing a 20-metre shot over the bar.
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 Laudrup strike lifts Denmark over Scots
 GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) -- Brian Laudrup, who plays for Glasgow Rangers, scored on his home ground at Ibrox to lift Denmark to a 1-0 victory over Scotland in a World Cup warmup game Wednesday night.
 Laudrup struck a low, angled drive from just inside the penalty area past diving goalkeeper Jim Leighton in the 37th minute for his 19th career goal for Denmark.
 Denmark fielded a starting lineup that included Celtic duo Marc Rieper and Morten Wieghorst. Scotland fielded three Celtic stars -- Jackie McNamara, Tom Boyd and Darren Jackson.
 Scotland's only good chance in a lacklustre first half fell to Darren Jackson, but he put his header over the crossbar following a cross by Christian Dailly.
 Scotland made two substitutes at the half, replacing Leighton with Andy Goram and Scott Booth with Eoin Jess.
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 Russia 1 France 0
 MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia defeated France 1-0 in a friendly soccer match on Wednesday, thanks to a goal just three minutes into the World Cup prep game.
 Russian striker Sergei Yuran took advantage of a weak French defence and overplayed goalkeeper Lionel Letizi. After that quick goal, neither team had many chances to score in the first half.
 In the run-up to Wednesday's match, French coach Aime Jacquet had to experiment with the lineup since he was missing David Trezeguet due to a knee injury and Zinedine Zidane, who had club commitments in Italy with Juventus.
 "The French team showed perfect play, but it didn't manage to realize its goal-scoring chances," Jacquet said. "Tuning-up for the World Cup is proceeding. Despite the defeat, I'm satisfied with the performance."
 For Russia, which failed to book a place in the World Cup finals, the game was the first one in a series of warmup matches before the European championship qualifying games this September.
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 Switzerland 1 England 1
 BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- A goalkeeper's blunder enabled unimpressive England to scramble a 1-1 tie with Switzerland in a World Cup warmup game Wednesday.
 Joel Corminboeuf's mishit clearance went straight to Alan Shearer and the England captain set up an easy equalizer for Paul Merson in the 69th minute after Ramon Vega's first goal for Switzerland had put the home team ahead.
 But for the keeper's mistake, Glenn Hoddle's World Cup-bound team would have lost for the second game in a row. Last month it went down 2-0 to Chile at Wembley and at the Wankdorf stadium it created few chances against a Swiss team who failed to qualify for the finals.
 "In the second half we played a lot better," Hoddle said. "They played better in the first half. A draw was a fair result.
 "The pitch was poor. They adapted better than us in the first half. In the second half, we were much more positive. If we'd started the game like that, I think we would have won it."
 David Sesa went close to firing the Swiss ahead in the 12th minute when he collected a pass and turned to fire a 20-metre shot that shaved the left post with goalkeeper Tim Flowers beaten.
 The Swiss, now under Gilbert Gress, their third coach in two years since the departure of Englishman Roy Hodgson, looked far more impressive that the World Cup qualifier and threatened a suspect England defence frequently in the first half.
 Hoddle sent on experienced Teddy Sheringham for 18-year-old Michael Owen in the 68th minute but it an amazing blunder by Corminboeuf that gave England an ill-deserved equalizer.
 The 'keeper's badly hit clearance struck Sheringham's foot and went straight to Shearer. With the Swiss defence moving upfield, England had three players to two defenders and Shearer passed to the unmarked Merson, who had plenty of time to fire it past Corminboeuf from 12 metres out.
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 Northern Ireland 1, Slovakia 0
 BELFAST (AP) -- A second-half goal by captain Steve Lomas earned Northern Ireland a 1-0 win over Slovakia in a friendly international Wednesday night between two teams that failed to qualify for the World Cup.
 The victory for Northern Ireland came in the first game under new manager Lawrie McNenemy, who received a standing ovation from the Windsor Park fans before and after the match.
 Lomas's winner, his second international goal, came against the run of play in the 51st minute.
 The Slovaks, rated 60 places higher than Northern Ireland in the FIFA rankings, dominated the tempo for most of the match but failed to score.