Aside from Portugal and Spain, Europe's big names came away
smiling after an early season return to UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying
on Saturday. With four rounds of matches still to play, it looks
increasingly as if the continent's traditional powers will all
be making the trip to Switzerland and Austria next summer.
Group A rivals Portugal and Serbia will have to pull their socks
up if they want to join them, however, after both let two crucial
points slip. Section leaders Poland spoilt the party in Lisbon with
some solid defending and quick counter-attacks, and Portugal knew
they were in for a long night when Mariusz Lewandoski broke the
deadlock just before half-time. Maniche and Cristiano Ronaldo then
exploited openings for the hosts and the latter rattled a post from
a free-kick, but Lewandoski earned Poland a deserved point from a
Jacek Krzynowek cross three minutes from time.
For their part, Serbia played out a disappointing goalless draw
at home to Finland and now find themselves five points behind the
Poles ahead of their journey to Portugal on Wednesday.
Deprived of Marco Materazzi and Luca Toni, world champions Italy
chose not to take too many risks in their Group B game at home to
France. Opting for a conservative 4-5-1 formation in contrast with
France's more attacking approach, the
Azzurri's tentative tactics made for a slow-paced
encounter which was punctuated by occasional bursts of activity.
Played in a good spirit, the match seemed as if it could swing one
way or the other, but in the end it was goalkeepers Gianluigi
Buffon and Mickael Landreau who had the final word. The result
keeps
les Bleus at the top of the table, one point ahead of
Scotland, who run out in Paris on Wednesday.
The Scots will surely be high on confidence for that test after
two late goals gave them a 3-1 victory over Lithuania. The
tenacious Baltic side always looked dangerous on the attack, but
weaknesses in defence proved their undoing as Stephen McManus and
James McFadden both struck in the final 15 minutes.
Elsewhere in the same section, Ukraine will be disappointed
with their 1-1 stalemate in Georgia. The Germany 2006
quarter-finalists opened the scoring through Oleg Shelayev after
just nine minutes, only for David Siradze to fire a late equaliser
and deny them two precious points in the race for
qualification.
Hungary celebrate, Germany dominate
In Group C, Hungary built on their euphoric 3-1
friendly win over Italy by sealing a 1-0 triumph at home to
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Zoltan Gera converting from the penalty spot
for the side already out of the running. Turkey are very much in
contention, on the other hand, yet Fatih Terim's charges did
themselves no favours with a 2-2 draw in Malta,
cheap jerseys, a result that
looked like being even worse until Cetin Servet drew level in the
78th minute. As a result, Norway leapt up into second place, two
points behind Greece,
wholesale authentic jerseys, after Steffen Iversen earned them a 1-0
success in Moldova.
Germany continue to dominate Group D, meanwhile, and now find
themselves five points clear thanks to their 2-0 win in Wales.
Miroslav Klose hit both goals to complete the
Mannschaft's seventh victory in the pool, their only
setback being a 1-1 draw in Cyprus last November. That leaves Czech
Republic and Republic of Ireland tussling for second place, and
those two rivals come together in Prague on Wednesday for what is
sure to be an intense occasion.
The Czechs go into that match on the back of a
straightforward 3-0 victory over San Marino - with Tomas Rosicky,
Marek Jankulovski and Jan Koller grabbing the goals - while the
Irish now have to lift themselves after recording a 2-2 draw in
Slovakia. Steve Staunton's men appeared destined for success
when Kevin Doyle put them in front after an hour, but a last-gasp
effort from Porto's Marek Cech left them reeling.
Croatia remain unbeaten in Group E and strengthened their hold
on a qualification berth by seeing off Estonia 2-0. The scorer of
both goals, Brazil-born striker Eduardo da Silva,
cheap authentic nfl jerseys, was again the key
man for the Croats and now boasts a tally of eight strikes in his
adopted homeland's qualifying bid. Two points further back,
fellow hopefuls Russia have yet to taste defeat either and boosted
their chances by overcoming Macedonia 3-0,
wholesale nfl jerseys, a scoreline perhaps
unfair on the visitors given they conceded twice in the last seven
minutes.
Owen back on song
Most eyes in the group were on Wembley, though,
where England took to the field without several regular starters,
including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard. In
contrast, Steven Gerrard was deemed fit enough to feature, and he
and his colleagues restored local morale with a convincing 3-0
triumph over a disappointing Israel team. The game was most notable
for a stunning effort from an injury-free Michael Owen as well as
Emile Heskey's first cap since UEFA EURO 2004, England's
other goals came courtesy of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Micah
Richards.
The day's major surprises came in Group F, not least when
Emil Halfredsson took advantage of static Spanish defending to head
Iceland into a 1-0 lead just before half-time in Reykjavik. The
Spaniards had been playing with ten men since Xabi Alonso's
20th minute dismissal, but they avoided total disaster when Andres
Iniesta levelled the scores four minutes from time.
There was no late equaliser for Northern Ireland,
authentic jerseys from china, however,
whose dreams took a dent with a 1-0 loss away to bottom side
Latvia. To make matters worse, Chris Baird netted the only goal of
the match past his own goalkeeper, but a 0-0 draw in the
Scandinavian derby between Sweden and Denmark means the picture
remains relatively unchanged at the top of the standings.
Lastly, only two Group G sides can boast a zero in the
'games lost' column after Bulgaria slumped to a 2-0 defeat
in the Netherlands. Real Madrid team-mates Wesley Sneijder and Ruud
van Nistelrooy fired in the goals that sent Bulgaria back down to
third place, while Marco van Basten's troops stay three points
clear of Romania. For their part, the unbeaten Romanians picked up
a 3-1 win in Belarus thanks to Adrian Mutu's brace,
cheap jerseys online, and must
already be looking forward to locking horns with the leaders in
Bucharest on 13 October. At the foot of the group, Klemen
Lavric's two strikes powered Slovenia to an easy 3-0 victory in
Luxembourg.
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