footballnotsoccer
Paladin
Hardy
KC Hill
techman
Graham Fisher
Andrew Aigner-Muehler
LukeS
Craig HillEuro 2008: England back in the driving seat
November 19th 2007 04:00
Results: Euro 2008 Championship Qualifiers (Nov 17th)
Group A:
Finland 2 - 1 Azerbaijan
Poland 2 - 0 Belgium
Portugal 1 - 0 Armenia
Group B:
Scotland 1 - 2 Italy
Lithuania 2 - 0 Ukraine
Group C:
Moldova 3 - 0 Hungary
Norway 1 - 2 Turkey
Greece 5 - 0 Malta
Group D:
Wales 2 - 2 Ireland
Germany 4 - 0 Cyprus
Czech Republic 3 - 1 Slovakia
Group E:
Andorra 0 - 2 Estonia
Israel 2 - 1 Russia
Macedonia 2 - 0 Croatia
Group F:
Latvia 4 - 1 Liechtenstein
Northern Ireland 2 - 1 Denmark
Spain 3 - 0 Sweden
Group G:
Bulgaria 1 - 0 Romania
Netherlands 1 - 0 Luxembourg
Albania 2 - 4 Belarus
SUMMARY:
Israel's surprise 2-1 win over Russia in a Euro 2008 qualifier has boosted England's chances of making next year's finals dramatically.
Omer Golan scored the vital injury-time goal in Tel Aviv which means Croatia qualify for next year's tournament where they will be joined by England if they manage to avoid defeat against the Croatians at Wembley on Wednesday.
Had the Russians beaten Israel, England who have had next to no chance in qualifying for next year's finals with lowly Andorra their next opponents in the final game of the qualifying campaign.
The home side took the lead through Elyaniv Barda's goal, but Russia hit back and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored a deserved equaliser with half an hour to go. By this time, the Russians were dominating and had a shot hit the post before Golan beat the keeper in a one on one in the 92nd minute to put England in the driving seat for qualification once again.
Scotland suffered qualification heartbreak when Italian defender Christian Panucci's injury-time header from a harshly-awarded free-kick saw Italy and France qualify.
In Group C, Turkey leapfrogged Norway into second place after a 2-1 victory in Oslo while reigning European champions Greece demolished Malta 5-0 with Theofanis Gekas hitting a hat-trick in Athens.
In Group D, Germany claimed a 4-0 victory over Cyprus but the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-1 to retain top spot in the group.
In Group E, Estonia won 2-0 in Andorra while Macedonia claimed a shock win over leaders Croatia.
In Group F, Denmark's qualification hopes were ended by Northern Ireland after they failed to hold on to the lead given them by Nicklas Bendtner.
In Group G, Holland secured qualification after a 1-0 win over Luxembourg while Bulgaria boosted their own hopes with a 1-0 win over Romania in Sofia.
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Comment by Punters Daily
A Guus Hiddink team being that undisciplined to allow a goal so late?
A little suspect?
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
On a side note, why don't you login properly to leave a comment? It will improve your karma so your posts/comments are worth more.
Comment by Punters Daily
The Socceroos v Italy goal was a penalty given away by a player with a track record for reckless challenges. In that case the referee was incorrect, depending on your point of view, and the referee did determine the outcome of the match rather than a defensive lapse. So they are two vastly diferent circumstances with the only common denominator being Guus Hiddink.
On to the login issue, I thought I was logged in properly and didn't realise the best way to do it was to log in every time I posted a comment. Thanks for the tip
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
Invariably, that left them exposed at the back for Israel to counter attack, which they did to devastating effect.
I still don't think you were logged in properly for the above comment. Make sure that it says "Logout" near the top right hand corner of the page. If not, login like you would on your own site and you should be leaving comments as your Orble user name.
Charles.