QUALIFIED TEAMS:
Poland (co-hosts), Ukraine (co-hosts), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain
ENGLAND require just one more point to qualify for Euro 2012 after Ashley Young scored the winner in an unconvincing 1-0 win over Wales at Wembley.
Fabio Capello's men came into this clash in the midst of their worst winless run at home for 30 years, having drawn three and lost one of their last four games.
At least England claimed the three points on this occasion to prevent the sequence from being extended further but this was fairly drab stuff for the most part.
After a quiet start, England began to assert themselves once winger Stewart Downing realised he had the beating of his opposing full-back Neil Taylor.
The Liverpool man's first two crosses went unrewarded but his third, on 35 minutes, was converted by a fine first-time finish from Young who put in another impressive shift.
England held on comfortably until half-time but, after the break, Wales began to involve Gareth Bale more into the play which resulted in them enjoying more possession.
As the match drew to a close, England were just holding on and the Welsh then missed a glorious chance to equalise when Robbie Earnshaw inexplicably missed from three yards out.
That was as good as it got for Gary Speed's men who remain rooted to the bottom of Group G but who can look to build on an improved second half of this campaign.
With just one match left, England are now on 17 points, six points clear of Montenegro who did not play tonight.
The Three Lions need to be wary, though, as Montenegro can still claim top spot with two wins in their final matches against England on 7 October and Switzerland four days later.
Meanwhile, Switzerland will still harbour hopes of taking second spot themselves after Xherdan Shaqiri scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 comeback win over ten-man Bulgaria to close within three points of Montenegro.
Elsewhere, defending champions Spain secured their place in the finals from Group I with the biggest win of the night - a sound 6-0 thrashing of Liechtenstein.
In the same group, Scotland kept alive their slender hopes of making it into the playoffs with a 1-0 win over Lithuania thanks to Gary Naysmith's goal just after half-time.
Craig Levein's men had dominated the first half but had failed to score, missing a glorious chance when captain Darren Fletcher had his penalty saved.
However, Naysmith ensured this would not be another Hampden hard-luck story and some resolute defending late on secured only the Scots' second three-point haul of this campaign.
The victory moved Scotland onto eight points, way behind runaway leaders Spain who have a perfect 18, but now just two behind the Czech Republic.
Scotland need to win their game against Liechtenstein and hope the Czechs are beaten in both of their last two fixtures, at home to Spain and away to Lithuania.
But, while the Scots retain an outside chance, the dream of a first European Championship finals appearance for Northern Ireland died away in a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Estonia in Group C.
Martin Vunk made it 1-0 on the half-hour in Tallinn, minutes before Tarmo Kink's shot went straight through Lee Camp to double the lead.
Estonia offered Northern Ireland a way back into the game before half-time when Raio Piroja put through his own net but a complete howler by Gareth McAuley allowed Sergei Zenjov to restore the hosts' two-goal advantage.
Kaimar Saag rubbed salt into the wounds with a fourth goal in stoppage time from a shot which beat Camp on his near-post.
Italy wrapped up a comfortable qualification from the group with a 1-0 win over Slovenia in Florence thanks to Gianpaolo Pazzini's late strike.
The three points move the Azzurri onto 22 from eight games, eight clear of Serbia who are in the best position to take second-place.
Not only do the Serbians occupy that slot after their second win in a week, 3-1 over the Faroe Isles, but they also have a game in hand over rivals Estonia and Slovenia who are one and three points back in third and fourth.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland are in fifth place, five points behind Serbia with two games left.
The encouraging start to this campaign by the Northern Irish now seems a long time ago and Nigel Worthington's days as head coach may be numbered.
It is looking a lot better for the Republic of Ireland in Group B, though - even if they used up a whole load of fortune in their 0-0 draw away on a plastic pitch in Russia.
To be sure, it was the luck of the Irish which helped Richard Dunne and Damien Duff both cleared off the line while Shay Given produced a sterling performance to keep the Russians at bay.
The night got better still for the Irish when it filtered through that Armenia had inflicted a 4-0 home defeat on Slovakia. Giovanni Trapattoni's team now have a really good chance of winning the group.
For, though the Irish - on 15 points - remain two behind Russia tonight, Armenia and Slovakia are already a point behind - and the Russians face Slovakia next.
However, it remains unclear if there is a sting in the tail and there is also a lack of clarity over what will happen in Groups D, F and H.
In Group D, France had their lead cut to just a single point, having drawn 0-0 with Romania while Bosnia-Herzegovina beat nine-man Belarus 1-0 with a late goal.
In Group F, Croatia leapfrogged Greece into top spot as one goal from Luka Modric and two from Eduardo helped Slaven Bilic's men complete a comeback win over ten-man Israel.
Euro 2004 winners Greece could only manage a 1-1 draw away in Latvia - and only then because of a late goal - giving Croatia a one-point advantage going into their clash in Athens next month.
The tightest of all the groups is Group H. Three teams - Portugal, Denmark and Norway - are now tied on 13 points, the Norwegians having played a game more and lost 2-0 to the Danes tonight thanks to two Niclas Bendtner goals.
After their respective games in hand, though, Denmark and Portugal face each other next month in a winner-takes-all scenario with the loser perhaps slipping behind Norway.
That leaves just two groups which have yet to be mentioned.
In Group E, Netherlands - still boasting a perfect record after a 2-0 win over Finland - have qualified even without yet quite winning the group as - if they slip to second place - they will definitely hold the best runners-up record.
Of course, it is far more likely that the Dutch will win the group anyway and either Sweden or Hungary will take second place.
Both of those sides are currently on 18 points having enjoyed comfortable midweek wins - but the Swedes have a game in hand.
And finally, in Group A - from which the Germans qualified on Friday - Turkey drew 0-0 with Austria to go two points clear of Belgium in the race for the playoff place.
EURO 2012 QUALIFYING
6 September 2011
Latest group standings
GROUP A
Austria 0-0 Turkey
Azerbaijan 3-2 Kazakhstan
GROUP B
FYR Macedonia 1-0 Andorra
Russia 0-0 Republic of Ireland
Slovakia 0-4 Armenia
GROUP C
Estonia 4-1 Northern Ireland
Italy 1-0 Slovenia
Serbia 3-1 Faroe Islands
GROUP D
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 Belarus
Luxembourg 2-1 Albania
Romania 0-0 France
GROUP E
Finland 0-2 Netherlands
Moldova 0-2 Hungary
San Marino 0-5 Sweden
GROUP F
Croatia 3-1 Israel
Latvia 1-1 Greece
Malta 1-1 Georgia
GROUP G
England 1-0 Wales
Switzerland 3-1 Bulgaria
GROUP H
Denmark 2-0 Norway
Iceland 1-0 Cyprus
GROUP I
Scotland 1-0 Lithuania
Spain 6-0 Liechtenstein
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