Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Euro 2012 qualifiers: Abject England stutter to stalemate

ENGLAND produced a dismal display to toil to a 0-0 draw with Group G leaders Montenegro at Wembley.

Fabio Capello's men were lacking in ideas and imagination as the Montenegrins succeeded in claiming the single point which they clearly set out for.

The visitors actually came closest to stealing a win when Milan Jovanovic's fine looping strike hit the crossbar with five minutes left.

But the strike was out of keeping with a totally unadventurous performance from Montenegro who have yet to concede a goal in four qualifying games. The problem was that England did not have the guile to win the match either.

Luck played its part, as ever, and the German referee denied England a clear penalty when, minutes before he hit the bar, Jovanovic handled Ashley Cole's cross.

Other than that, though, there was little to go on. The wingers, Adam Johnson and Ashley Young, continually and predictably cut inside having been fielded on the opposite side to their natural foot.

Young later capped a frustrating night with a ludicrous dive, a hardly untypical move which blights his game.

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney once again kept coming too deep and the presence of Peter Crouch simply encouraged midfielders Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard to hit wasteful long balls.

The sight of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Kevin Davies coming off the bench is perhaps the truly depressing statement on England's squad depth, although that fails to take into account that both Joe Cole and Jack Wilshere were unused again.

At least Bolton Wanderers striker Davies, to his credit, caused more consternation in the Montenegro backline in 21 minutes than the ineffectual Crouch did in his 69 minutes on the Wembley turf.

And at least Capello can console himself that, despite this result, England remain in control of the group.

England are three points behind Montenegro with a game in hand and a much better goal difference, and should still make it to Euro 2012.

But that says more about the poverty of the other teams in this section - Bulgaria, Switzerland and Wales - than it does about the Three Lions' chances in Poland/Ukraine.

Wales are now rock-bottom of the group after a 4-1 defeat in Switzerland meant they have lost their first three qualifiers in a campaign for the first time since 1970.

The final result was rather harsh on Wales who were pushing for a second equaliser when Tranquillo Barnetta dived and won a penalty which was converted by Gokhan Inler.

That made it 3-1 with ten minutes left before Valentin Stocker rubbed salt into Welsh wounds in the last minute.

Earlier, Stocker had headed the Swiss into an eighth-minute lead before Tottenham Hotspur's outstanding Gareth Bale coolly equalised five minutes later.

But, with just over 20 minutes gone, Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland were back in front when Streller took advantage of some slack defending, and that is how it stayed until a double-sucker punch late on.

In Group I, Scotland already look unlikely to qualify despite a brave performance against world champions Spain in a 3-2 defeat at Hampden Park.

The match looked like it was heading to script when 45 minutes of Spanish pressure paid off and David Villa converted a penalty after Steven Whittaker's handball.

It looked increasingly ominous for the Scots when Andres Iniesta made it 2-0 early in the second half but Craig Levein's men rallied.

Within ten minutes of Iniesta's goal, Scotland were level. First, Gary Naismith threw himself at a Kenny Miller cross and scored a brilliant diving header.

Then, just as the Tartan Army was catching its breath in Hampden, James Morrison got around the back of the Spanish defence again and his cross was diverted into his own net by Barcelona defender Gerard Pique.

But the dream comeback was ended on 79 minutes when Fernando Llorente escaped the marking of Stephen McManus to tap in from six yards.

Spain's 3-2 win, coupled with the Czech Republic's routine 2-0 success over Liechtenstein, means Scotland are now third in Group I.

Levein's men are five points behind the Spanish and two points behind the Czechs, having played a game more than both teams.

To complete a miserable night for British sides, Northern Ireland went from the sublime - a fine 0-0 draw against Italy on Friday night - to the ridiculous in falling behind to the Faroe Isles before Kyle Lafferty's late goal rescued a 1-1 draw.

Nigel Worthington's men missed a hatful of headed chances as the Faroes scored with their first attack of the second period on 61 minutes.

Woeful defending by Stephen Craigan and Aaron Hughes let in Christian Holst who twisted and turned both men before neatly finding the bottom corner.

Realising for the potential for an embarrassing result, the Northern Irish stepped up their game but Chris Baird and Johnny Evans headed wide from close range.

Just as it looked it was never going to happen, Lafferty got his side back on level terms with a precise shot in-off the post after a jinking run and a one-two with Chris Brunt on the edge of the box.

But, with 14 minutes left to find a winner, the Northern Irish lost their way once more, leaving Worthington clearly angry and frustrated.

The Republic of Ireland also drew 1-1 thanks to Sean St Ledger's early goal but that result in Slovakia will be looked upon much more kindly south of the border.

It could have been even better for Giovanni Trappatoni's men but Robbie Keane missed a huge chance for a 46th international goal when Everton's Jan Mucha saved his penalty on the stroke of half-time.

By then, the Irish had conceded their lead - Jan Durica had levelled on 36 minutes - and, in the second half, they conceded the initiative as Slovakia dominated.

In the end, though, a point apiece leaves Group B intriguingly tight with four games gone. Russia lead the way with nine points with the Irish in second on seven points, level with surprise package Armenia and the Slovakians.

GROUP-BY-GROUP SUMMARIES AND RESULTS
GROUP A
Second-half goals from Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski gave Germany a 3-0 win in Kazakhstan and put the three-time European champions five points clear at the top of Group A after four wins out of four. Neighbours Austria are the Germans' closest rivals after Martin Harnik rescued a point in stoppage time of an extraordinary 4-4 draw in Brussels in Belgium. Austria are second on seven points from three games, a point clear of Turkey and three points clear of Belgium, both of whom have played a game more. The Turkish embarrassingly lost their second game of the campaign 1-0 in Azerbaijan who recorded their first points.
Azerbaijan 1-0 Turkey
Belgium 4-4 Austria
Kazakhstan 0-3 Germany

GROUP B
An early Alexander Kerzhakov goal was enough to give Russia a 1-0 win in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, and that result puts Russia top with three wins out of four. Republic of Ireland are in second place on seven points, level with Armenia and Slovakia with whom the Irish drew 1-1 in Zilina. Armenia completed an excellent week for them - having beaten Slovakia 3-1 on Friday, they thrashed group minnows Andorra 4-0 in the biggest win of the night.
Armenia 4-0 Andorra
FYR Macedonia 0-1 Russia
Slovakia 1-1 Republic of Ireland

GROUP C
Italy remain top of Group C despite their fixture with Serbia being abandoned after just seven minutes by Scottish referee Craig Thomson after Serb hooligans threw flares and fireworks onto the pitch. It remains to be seen if UEFA will use the usual punishment of awarding the match 3-0 to Italy and forcing fifth-placed Serbia to play their next qualifier behind closed doors.
As it stands, Italy are joined on seven points by Slovenia after the Slovenians 1-0 win in Tallinn against Estonia but the Italians have only played three matches against Slovenia's four. Estonia are third on six points from four games, Northern Ireland fourth with five points from three games and Serbia fifth with just four points from three games. The Faroe Isles picked up their first point of the campaign in their 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland.
Estonia 0-1 Slovenia
Faroe Isles 1-1 Northern Ireland
Italy A-A Serbia (abandoned at 0-0, crowd trouble)

GROUP D
France and Belarus both enjoyed 2-0 home wins to set the pace in Group D. France are top on nine points from four games with the unbeaten Belarussians on eight points. Albania remain in third place for now on five points from four games, but they are just a point clear of Bosnia-Herzegovina who have a game in hand. Romania have also only played three times so far, but they have picked up just two points and they are in danger of repeating their fifth-place finish in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Luxembourg gained their only point so far in a 0-0 draw on Friday against Belarus.
Belarus 2-0 Albania
France 2-0 Luxembourg

GROUP E
Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made it eight goals in four qualifiers as he scored twice in the Netherlands' easy 4-1 win against closest rivals Sweden. Ibrahim Afellay also scored twice as the Dutch stormed into a 4-0 lead by 55 minutes. Andreas Granqvist's goal was of little consolation to the Swedes who fall into third place, six points behind the Dutch.
Hungary are in second place with nine points from four games after Balazs Dzsudzsak scored in the 94th minute to give the Magyars a dramatic 2-1 win over Finland. Sweden are three points behind Hungary with a game in hand while Moldova are also on six points, but having played four matches. Finland and, predictably enough, San Marino are yet to score a point.
Finland 1-2 Hungary
Netherlands 4-1 Sweden
San Marino 0-2 Moldova

GROUP F
Euro 2004 winners Greece took advantage of Croatia's absence from action by beating Israel to go a point clear at the top of Group F. Greece have eight points from four games while Croatia have seven points from three matches, and the Croatians remain favourites at this stage. Georgia's 1-1 draw in Riga against Latvia was their third in four games and it keeps them unbeaten on six points, two clear of Israel and the Latvians. Rock-bottom Malta have yet to score a point after three qualifiers.
Greece 2-1 Israel
Latvia 1-1 Georgia

GROUP G
Montenegro successfully defended the Group G lead at Wembley in a 0-0 stalemate with England. The draw leaves Montenegro on 10 points from four games, three clear of the Three Lions who have a game in hand. Switzerland and Bulgaria have both picked up their first points in the last four days with victories over Wales who are without a point from their first three qualifiers for the first time since 1970.
England 0-0 Montenegro
Switzerland 4-1 Wales

GROUP H
Cristiano Ronaldo scored after just three minutes as Portugal beat Iceland 3-1 to close the gap on Norway at the top of Group H to two points. Leaders Norway were not in action but they have a perfect nine points from three games. Portugal are second with seven points from four matches after their slow start to the group. Denmark beat Cyprus 2-0 to stay third, just a point behind the Portuguese but with a game in hand. After three games, Cyprus have one point from their amazing 4-4 draw with Portugal last month while Iceland are yet to get off the mark.
Denmark 2-0 Cyprus
Iceland 1-3 Portugal

GROUP I
Spain survived Scotland's comeback to win 3-2 at Hampden Park and keep a perfect record of three wins out three. The Czech Republic remain in contention of a Group I upset after beating Liechtenstein 2-0 to stay just two points behind Spain. Scotland are two points further back but having played a game more. Lithuania join the Scots on four points, but from just three games while Liechtenstein are yet to score a point from their three qualifiers.
Liechtenstein 0-2 Czech Republic
Scotland 2-3 Spain

UNDER-21 QUALIFYING PLAYOFFS Second leg
England qualified for the Under-21 Euro 2011 finals after a 0-0 draw in Romania. This was a stalemate which England fans can be happy about as Stuart Pearce's men successfully defended the 2-1 lead they earned after goals from Jordan Henderson and Chris Smalling in the first leg.
But Scotland were beaten 2-1 by Iceland for the second time in a week despite Chris Maguire's goal from the half-way line straight from the kick-off after Gylfi Sigurdsson's opener. Sigurdsson scored again with ten minutes left at Easter Road to make it 4-2 on aggregate and kill the tie off.
England and Iceland are joined by Denmark as hosts, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus and Ukraine. Belarus beat Italy 3-0 to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg while Ukraine's two-goal lead from their first leg was just enough to see them through on away goals.
Belarus 3-0 Italy (3-2 on agg)
Croatia 0-3 Spain (1-5 agg)
Greece 0-2 Czech Republic (0-5 on agg)
Romania 0-0 England (1-2 on agg)
Scotland 1-2 Iceland (2-4 on agg)
Sweden 1-1 Switzerland (2-5 on agg)
Ukraine 0-2 Netherlands (3-3 on agg, Ukraine won on away goals)
*Qualified for the Euro 2011 finals (11-25 June): Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark (hosts), England, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine

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