England

England Miss Out - International Review

GROUP A

Portugal made hard work of it in Oporto but a goalless draw with Finland was enough to take them to the European Championship, rendering Saturday’s rearranged match between Serbia and Kazakhstan meaningless.

Poland won the group with a 2-2 draw in Serbia. Rafal Murawski and Jaroslaw Matusiak’s goals were cancelled out by two quick fire Serbian headed goals from the giant Nikola Zigic and the more subtle Danko Lazovic. The draw would not have been enough for the Serbs even had Finland beaten Portugal.

Belgium avoided embarrassment in Azerbaijan, a Luigi Pieroni goal in the 53rd minute giving them a narrow victory in Baku, whilst an improving Kazakhstan side won 1-0 in Armenia with a goal from Sergei Ostapenko.

Serbia will take third place off Finland if they beat Kazakhstan on Saturday but they may have to do without some of their big-name players, such as Manchester Utd defender Nemanja Vidic, whose clubs will make a fuss over releasing them for a now meaningless match.

Poland (28), Portugal (27), Finland (24), Serbia (21)*, Belgium (18), Kazakhstan (10)*, Armenia (9)*, Azerbaijan (5)*

*Serbia to play Kazakhstan on Saturday, Armenia and Azerbaijan did not play each other due to political differences.

GROUP B

France’s 2-2 draw in the Ukraine was superficially meaningless but two more dropped points has caused them to suffer in the seeding of the final draw. Andriy Voronin had given the home side the lead before Thierry Henry and Sidney Govou turned the table around but Andriy Shevchenko hit an equalizer just before half time to give Ukraine a morale-boosting point at the end of a disappointing campaign.

Italy registered an expected victory in Modena against the Faroe Islands but the minnows again managed a goal against the world champions. An own goal plus strikes from Luca Toni and fullback Giorgio Chiellini gave Italy a comfortable half-time cushion but they took it easy after the break and Rogvi Jacobsen registered a late consolation goal.

Andrius Ksanivicius and Mindaugas Kalonas scored to give Lithuania a 2-0 win in Georgia to consolidate fifth place and complete a fine week following the win over Ukraine on Saturday. The Faroes didn’t play on Wednesday night, but would anybody have notice if they had?

Italy (29), France (26), Scotland (24), Ukraine (17), Lithuania (16), Georgia (10), Faroe Islands (0)

GROUP C

Turkey needed a win over Bosnia in Istanbul to qualify and that’s what they got, thanks to a cool right-foot shot from Nihat just before half-time. Turkey had dominated the game but they often struggle to turn chances into goals and this may be their downfall come the finals next summer.

Turkey’s win rendered it meaningless but Steffen Iversen grabbed a first-half hat-trick, including a well-taken penalty, as Norway won 4-1 in Malta. Coventry’s Michael Mifsud pulled it back to 3-1 after the break but a Morten Gamst Pedersen header sealed the win and concentrated Norway’s minds on events in Istanbul.

Greece registered the highest points tally of the qualifying tournament in coming back from behind to beat Hungary 2-1 in Budapest. Ákos Buzsáky - him of Plymouth Argyle - was ludicrously credited with the opening goal, which was down to a huge, looping deflection off Greek midfielder Kostas Katsouranis. Another own goal from Vilmos Vanczák and a fine left-foot strike from Angelos Basinas gave the Greeks yet another win. Hungary finish a pathetic sixth, beneath Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldova; has any international side’s star faded so remarkably over the last twenty years? While they continue to have to pick players from Bristol City, Colchester, Watford, QPR and Plymouth hope of improved fortunes seems vain.

Greece (31), Turkey (24), Norway (23), Bosnia-Herzegovina (13), Moldova (12), Hungary (12), Malta (5)

GROUP D

Wales hauled themselves above Cyprus in the final table with a much-improved display in Germany, gaining a point from a 0-0 draw in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. Shorn of the injured Craig Bellamy, Gareth Bale, Carl Robinson and the suspended Jason Koumas - scorer of both goals against Ireland on Saturday - Wales’ youngsters held off a German side that began with Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gómez in a three-pronged attack.

The Czech Republic sealed top spot with a 2-0 win in Nicosia - only Cyprus’ second home defeat of the campaign. Daniel Pudil and Jan Koller got the goals as the Czechs strengthened their reputation as a dangerous side going into the finals, although only time will tell if they can effectively replace Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborsky in the midfield.

Slovakia got a routine 5-0 win in San Marino, with Porto’s Marek Cech scoring a brace late on. Lubomír Michalík, Filip Holosko and Marek Hamtik had already registered, although San Marino battled bravely to keep the game scoreless after forty minutes. The usual debate about such minnows being included in the full qualifying process continues, although no change looks like being made before the World Cup Qualifying draw on Sunday in South Africa.

Czech Republic (29), Germany (27), Republic of Ireland (17), Slovakia (16), Wales (15), Cyprus (14), San Marino (0)

GROUP E

Oh dear.

England, with Russia having done everything they could on Saturday to make life easy for Steve McClaren’s men, produced a display against an admittedly fine Croatian side excellently managed by Slovan Bilic that leads an impartial observer to conclude that they would not have graced the European Championship anyway.

After a befuddled and panicky start - during which a long-range Niko Kranjcar shot slipped through the hands of international rookie Scott Carson and Ivica Olic punished an ineffectual off-side trap to round the keeper to double the lead - England could not find the urgency nor the guile to fight their way back. Steve McClaren’s double change at half-time, bringing on Jermain Defoe and David Beckham for Gareth Barry and Shaun Wright-Phillips, proved surprisingly effective. Defoe was pulled, stupidly, by Josip Simunic to allow Frank Lampard to pull one back with a penalty before David Beckham produced England’s one moment of class to cross for Peter Crouch, who skilfully controlled the ball with his chest and volleyed past Stipe Pletikosa.

But England’s long-ball game, brought about by a lack of ideas in midfield and no obvious leadership from the ineffectual captain Steven Gerrard, meant Croatia found it too easy to dominate possession and it was not against the run of play when substitute Mladen Petric, relegated to the bench following a short illness, produced a fine left-foot shot to beat Carson with thirteen minutes remaining. England’s reply consisted of one half-chance for substitute Darren Bent - who did well to fire only slightly over from an awkward position - a lot of huffing and puffing but no quality.

Russia laboured to a 1-0 win in Andorra thanks to a header from Dmitri Sychev, who made up for his late miss in Israel. Aside from missing a penalty and having Andrei Arshavin sent off for violent conduct - he will be suspended for Russia’s opening match in June - Russia did little to suggest they will illuminate Austria and Switzerland, which only makes England’s failure all the more dispiriting. Steve McClaren was sacked early on Thursday morning, to the surprise of nobody.

Elyaniv Barda scored his second goal of the week as Israel beat Macedonia 1-0 in Tel Aviv.

Croatia (29), Russia (24), England (23), Israel (23), Macedonia (14), Estonia (7), Andorra (0)

GROUP F

Northern Ireland’s already slim hopes evaporated as a deflected Xavi shot gave Spain a 1-0 win in Las Palmas, although Nigel Worthington’s side finish an impressive third in the group thanks to their superior head-to-head record against Denmark.

Sweden would have qualified anyway but registered a 2-1 win over Latvia in Stockholm. Marcus Allbäck’s goal in the first minute should have settled the hosts’ nerves but Juris Laizans equalized for the Baltic side after 25 minutes. Kim Källström, Sweden’s artful midfield playmaker, got the winner in the second half as Sweden somewhat stumbled over the finishing line.

Denmark’s qualification form has been poor as they failed to make the finals of a major international tournament for the second time in a row. Spirits were raised, though, with a 3-0 win over Iceland at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium with Nicklas Bentner, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Thomas Kahlenberg scoring the goals.

Spain (28), Sweden (26), Northern Ireland (20), Denmark (20), Latvia (12), Iceland (8), Liechtenstein (7)

GROUP G

Holland might have qualified, an achievement of which England can only be insanely jealous, but they have produced little in qualifying to suggest they will shine at Euro 2008. A laboured, uninspired 1-0 win at home over Luxembourg was followed by a humiliating 2-1 defeat in Belarus. Vitali Bulyga and Bladimir Korytko’s goals in the third quarter of the game sent the 12,000-strong crowd in Minsk home happy, with the Dutch managing only a late consolation from Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

Holland have a strong pool of players but too often fail to gel as a team and tend to bottle it in the tougher matches (sound familiar?) The task of mixing young, raw talent with old hands like Ruud van Nistelrooy is proving a tough one for their strong-willed coach Marco van Basten.

Two late goals from Blagoy Georgiev and Dimitar Berbatov - the first a fine strike from outside the area and the second a tap into an empty net after a goalkeeping calamity - gave Bulgaria a 2-0 win in Slovenia, who are a shadow of the side that gained so many friends at Euro 2000. Bulgaria knew at the start of the group that Romania were their big rivals for qualification alongside the Dutch, but Romania have been more convincing throughout. Gheorghe Hagi’s side thrashed Albania 6-1 in Bucharest in front of 25,000 hopeful fans; Nicolae Dica (2), Gabriel Tamas, Daniel Niculae (2) and a penalty from Ciprian Marica on the scoresheet. Edmond Kapllani’s consolation was his fifth of the campaign, an impressive tally for a player in such a mediocre team.

Romania (29), Holland (26), Bulgaria (25), Belarus (13), Albania (11), Slovenia (11), Luxembourg (3)

THE DRAW

UEFA’s seedings are based on points-per-game achieved during the qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. France have suffered the worst by this method, as their large number of draws in the World Cup qualifiers and their two defeats to Scotland have resulted in them bizarrely being among the bottom seeds. Holland, despite their unconvincing form, have made a habit of securing laboured 1-0 victories and go into Pot One alongside hosts Austria and Switzerland and holders Greece, who are top seeds by rights. With no obvious outsiders in the tailgate of Turkey (1996), Slovenia (2000) and Latvia (2004), there is a real argument for saying that the co-hosts are the two weakest sides in the tournament.

Finally, consider a potential Group of Death to end all Groups of Death; Holland, Italy, France and any one of Germany, Portugal or Spain. Whatever the opposite of a Group of Death is called, it is fair to say that Austria, Sweden, Romania and Turkey would be the definition of it.

The draw takes place on Sunday 2nd December and is live in the UK on BBC Two at 11.15 am.

POT 1: Austria (A1), Switzerland (B1), Greece, Holland
POT 2: Croatia, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden
POT 3: Romania, Germany, Portugal, Spain
POT 4: Poland, France, Turkey, Russia

SOUTH AMERICA

Ecuador produced the most surprising result of the week, turning their 5-1 defeat in Paraguay on Saturday on its head to beat Peru in Quito by the same scoreline. Walter Ayoví, who missed out on last year’s World Cup, scored twice with Iván Kaviedes and a brace from PSV Eindhoven’s Edison Méndez got new coach Sixto Vizuete off to a memorable start. Andrés Augusto Mendoza grabbed a late consolation for Peru.

Brazil had to come back from behind to beat Uruguay 2-1 in an open game at São Paulo’s magnificent Morumbi stadium, with former São Paulo striker Luís Fabiano scoring both goals after Sebastián Abreu’s early header had given Uruguay the lead. Argentina slipped up for the first time, not helped by the early sending off of Carlos Tévez in Colombia. Lionel Messi gave the ten men the lead soon afterwards but second half strikes from Rubén Darío Bustos, an emerging wing-back talent with a lethal free-kick, and Dayro Moreno’s second half goals earned Colombia a victory and kept up their promising unbeaten start.

Salvador Cabaños and Paulo da Silva, who scored two, earned Paraguay an important 3-0 win in Chile, while the best game of the week anywhere in the world took place in San Cristóbal between Venezuela and Bolivia, South America’s two most uncelebrated teams.

Marcelo Moreno Martins’ left-foot strike for Bolivia was equalized immediately by a tap-in from Daniel Arismendi, but a header from a tight angle from Juan Carlos Arce gave Bolivia back the lead. Venezuela equalized again before half time with an extraordinary goal; a high ball into the box rebounded off the back of Giancarlo Maldonado’s head for his strike partner Arismendi to coolly stroke past Bolivian goalkeeper Carlos Arias.

In the second half the mayhem continued; a header from Martins put Bolivia in front for the third time but Venezuela levelled again with a well taken goal from Alejandro Guerra with ten minutes left. The real chaos happened in the last two minutes. Maldonado, who should already have had a hat-trick in an extraordinarily open match, pounced on a loose ball to nod past Arias, who pulled a muscle in his right leg in the process. From the restart, with Arias limping aimlessly around his penalty area, Venezuela won the ball and Maldonado produced an audacious chip from forty yards to seal the home side’s second win of the campaign.

Paraguay (10), Argentina (9), Colombia (8), Brazil (8), Venezuela (6), Uruguay (4), Chile (4), Ecuador (3), Peru (2), Bolivia (1)

You can e-mail freelance journalist Mike Martin at mjefm@hotmail.com.

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