The win places the Scots all alone at the top of the group with the maximum nine points. After failing to qualify for the past two World Cups and the 2004 European Championships, manager Walter Smith has his squad in great position to land a spot in Austria and Switzerland.

France, the 2000 European champions, still find themselves in second place and are in no danger of failing to qualify, despite the loss.

The home side found itself on the defensive early and often in the first half. In the eighth minute, Thierry Henry bent a free kick past Scottish keeper Craig Gordon, however the ball struck the far post and stayed out.

The visitors once again threatened in the 17th, but the referee's whistle came to the rescue of the hosts. Franck Ribery's free kick was slammed into the back of the net by skipper Patrick Vieira, however he was ruled offsides. The World Cup runners-up were thwarted once again by the officials just four minutes later, when David Trezeguet's header past Gordon was called back for another offsides infraction.

The rest of the half played out in much the same fashion, with France on the attack and Scotland desperately trying to keep the ball out of its net.

After making it to halftime on level terms, the Scots seemed to gain confidence, and nearly moved ahead early in the second half. James McFadden, making his first appearance in a month, ran down a long ball from Darren Fletcher and fired a shot just wide of the post.

The Tartan Army was sent into a frenzy, however, in the 67th. Scotland made the most of a corner kick opportunity, as Caldwell got on the other end of Paul Hartley's kick and steered a low shot past French keeper Gregory Coupet, providing the lone tally in the match.

France continued to press forward in the final 25 minutes, but were met by a surprisingly stiff Scottish back line. The clean sheet recorded by Scotland comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that the Scots were without three defenders, who missed the match due to injury.

In other Group B action, Italy got a much-needed result as they toppled the Ukraine, 2-0 in Rome. Massimo Oddo converted a 71st-minute penalty kick to get the Azzurri on the board, and Luca Toni put the game away with a tally in the 79th. The defending World Cup champs now have four points, putting them two behind France for second place.

Serbia's 1-0 win over Belgium vaulted them past Finland in Group A. The Finns played to a 0-0 draw with Armenia. The Serbian's have now earned seven points in three matches, while Finland sits in second place with five points.

In Group C play, Greece, the defending European champions, notched its second win in as many fixtures with a 1-0 triumph over group leaders Norway. Three teams now sit atop the group, as Norway, Greece and Turkey, who downed Hungary 1-0 on Saturday, all have six points.