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.

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Two goals from prolific forward Ebi Smolarek gave Poland a 2-0 win and the three points they needed to seal qualification. Despite having finished third in the World Cups of 1974 and 1982 and qualifying also in 1978, 1986, 2002 and 2006 it is the first time Poland have ever made the European Championship finals. Beglium are rooted in fifth place which will not help their World Cup ranking, although there are signs of slow recovery due to an improving pool of young players like Maarten Martens, Kevin Mirallas, Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany.

Portugal won but were booed off after a mediocre single goal victory in Leiria over Armenia. Hugo Almeida scored the goal but is set to miss the crucial match against Finland on Wednesday after picking up an injury. That match is kept alive after Finland came back from behind in Helsinki to beat Azerbaijan. Ilgar Gurbanov gave the Azeri’s the lead but Premier League strikers Mikael Forssell and Shefki Kuqi’s late goals gave Finland the win they needed. Roy Hodgson’s side must now win in Portugal to stand any chance of qualifying.

Everything is complicated by Serbia’s match in Belgrade against Kazakhstan being postponed until Saturday 24th November due to snowfall. Serbia still have a chance of qualifying but need Portugal to lose at home to Finland.

Qualified - Poland
Could Qualify - Portugal / Finland / Serbia

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Although these two sides dominate domestic competitions in Ukraine, any kind of progress in the Champions League would be a great success.

At first glance, it appears that Shakhtar are the likeliest to progress. Despite their tough-looking group, finishing second behind AC Milan looks like an achievable aim. Over the summer, Shakhtar broke all Ukrainian transfer records having paid €8m for Cristiano Lucarelli from Livorno, €10m for Ilsinho from Sao Paulo and €20m for Nery Castillo from Olympiacos. And yet, few in Ukraine will be surprised if Shakhtar fail to make the Champions League second round. Their fans are used to seeing the club’s owner spend more and more on transfers each year without subsequent success in Europe, although this year perhaps there is greater pressure than ever before to recoup some of the close-season outlay via unprecedented progress on the continent.
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Poland and Ukraine are celebrating their victory for the right to host one of the world’s major sporting events – the 2012 European Championships.

Not many in Europe believed in these two countries - with Italy an obvious favourite of the bookmakers - but Poles and Ukrainians themselves maintained faith. Footballing authorities of both countries managed not only to reassure their own football fans of their chances of winning the bid, but did everything possible to make Uefa committee to believe in that conviction too.

With Italy wallowed in crowd troubles, riots and corruption scandals, Poland and Ukraine developed into the favourites, sending fellow challengers Hungary and Croatia’s bid into the shadows. The Uefa Executive Committee were finally persuaded to make their decision in favour of the Eastern European countries following an impressive presentation by Poland and Ukraine. The seriousness of both countries’ intentions was proved when Ukraine’s President Yuschenko and Poland’s President Kaczynski turned up at the presentation alongside with such sport celebrities as Andriy Shevchenko, Jerzy Dudek, Vitaliy Klichko and Serhiy Bubka.

It will take some time for Italy, Croatia and Hungary to recover from the shock of defeat. The problem of safety in and around Italian stadiums accumulated in recent years and reached its peak earlier this year when the policeman, Filippo Raciti, was killed in a clash with football fans. This shocking case prevented eight of the twelve Uefa executives voting for the 1990 World Cup hosts. Among the other factors that influenced the voters’ decision is the current policy of President Michel Platini – to offer Eastern European countries a chance to develop to a similar level as their affluent counterparts in Western Europe.

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