ENGLAND, SCOTLAND STILL IN PICTURE

 

 

England had already faced Montenegro in this campaign, and came away with a rather uninspiring and dissapointing 0-0 draw at Wembley. Since then though, the Three Lions have won all their games with varying degrees of classs. However, coming into this Euro 2012 qualifying Group G match at the City Stadium, they had yet to garuntee themselves a trip to POLUKR next year. We've been here before though, the men in white having one last game, away from home and needing just one point to secure a spot at a major tournament. England went 4-2-3-1. Congratulations to Phil Jones who made his international debut at right back. Terry and Cahil in central defence, Parker and Barry midfield, Young, Walcott and Rooney as support strikers, Bent up front.

Well we may have only needed a point but our guys were in no mood to hang around. The home side's defence was quickly pressered and broke in the 11th minute when Walcott crossed to Young who headed in England's opener. That shut the locals up and the home side continued to be at our mercy as the match went on, and in the 31st minute we got our second when Young crossed the ball to Bent who couldn't miss. Beautiful stuff but then out of nowhere, the home side struck in injury time. Elsad Zverotic got in a shot out nowhere and it was clear that this game wasn't quite over. Still, so far so good for the Three Lions, just a case of steady as she goes now right?

Well, we are capable of "steady as she goes" but this Montenegro team are clearly no mugs and stepped it up in the early stages of the second half, looking for the equaliser but to start with, our defence looked to be up to the task of holding them off. Just about. However when your deadliest assasin gets sent off for a piece of stupidity then it's not going to do you many favours and the home side simply turned up the heat and broke through in the 90th minute when a Miliord Pekocic cross found the head of Andrija Delibasic and the locals went absolutely beserk. Luckily they didn't have enough time to complete the turnaround but from their point of view, they didn't need to.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Switzerland at the Liberty Stadium. In theory Gary Speed's crew were the underdogs here but they put on a pretty impressive performance in the first half though weren't able to hit the net before the interval. The Welsh momentum continued in the second half and Switzerland going down to ten men certainly helped. Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring for the home side with a pen before Gareth Bale wrapped the game up with a second Welsh goal. That leaves England top of the group and heading for POLUKR, four points ahead of Montenegro and the playoff mixer. Wales move up to 4th in the table but their upturn in form has come too late to achieve anything this time around.

Prior to this campaign, Scotland had no history whatsoever with Leichenstein football wise. Well, what can be said about them? Not much. Bill Bryson once said he drove through there in half an hour and that included a toilet break! Their FA was only set up in 1934, they didn't join FIFA till 1974 and didn't join UEFA(and thus become able to take part in qualifcation campaigns for major tournaments) till 1992! They've only just started to field a significant amount of professional players and needless to say, have never come close to qualifying for a major tournament - or even get many local fans to attend their games. Not a side that can be taken thaty seriously.

Yet they are still the type of side that has to be dealt with in thiese campaigns and Scotland have already done so - beating them 2-1 at Hampden Park. Since then, Craig Levein's men haven't done so badly, an automatic trip to POLUKR may be a write off but even in the dying stages of this Euro 2012 qualifying Group I campaign, a playoff spot may yet be on the cards, though they needed to get a win out of the Rheinpark Stadion to stay competitive. Scotland went 4-2-3-1. Caldwell and Hutton central defence, Berra left back, Fletcher(captain) and Morrison in midfield, Adam, Bannan and Naismith as support strikers with Brighton's Craig Mikhail-Smith making his debut up front.

Right from the start the Scots were hammering the Leichenstein goal to the tune of a Scottish-majority crowd but this type of team tend to be stubborn gits and the Scots in particular aren't known for anhiliating the small fry of international football. Still, the Scots would clearly break through sooner or later and they did so in the 31st minute when Bardsley crossed to Mikhail-Smith who headed into the net on his debut! The Scots could have got a penalty late on but the ref had other ideas - and the half time whistle blew with the Scots only one up! Not exactly a classic but for the Tartan Army it was very much a case of so far so good.

The Scots looked to be picking up where they left off in the early stages of the second half but seemed unable to find that second goal, the Leichenstein goalie proving particularly stubborn. At the other end the home side also had chances of their own with a Nicolas Hasler effort needing to be saved. As the game went on, it ultimately seemed to be a case of waiting for the final whistle, the Scots didn't have enough fire to get any more goals. Ultimately I suppose it didn't matter, the Scots got what they were looking for but they were very much playing in a low gear. Levein seemed happy enough so presumably he knows that his guys still have fuel in the tank.

Elsewhere, the Czech Republic faced Spain at the Letna Stadion. The reigning champions were in no mood to hang around with Juan Mata opening the scoring and Xabi Alonso making it two without even breaking sweat before half time. The Czechs then went down to ten men after half time and that just allowed the Spanish to cruise for the rest of the match. They had opportunities to get a third goal but missed them, still, this was a pretty one-sided encounter. That allows the Scots to move up to 2nd place in qualifying group I and therefore on course for the playoff mixer. They're ten points behind Spain and an automatic trip to POLUKR(i.e forget it) but a point ahead of the Czech Republic and non-qualification.

In qualifying Group C, NOrthern Ireland faced Estonia at Windsor Park. Steven Davis opened the scoring for NI but the Baltic visitors clearly were in no mood to lie down and certainly were able to stop their hosts getting a second goal before half time. The visitors then stepped it up in the second half and the men in green were just desperately trying to hold on and ultimately failed. Konstantin Vassiljev got the equaliser before slotting a pen to win the match for his side. That leaves Northern Ireland down in 5th in the group, seven points behind Estonia at the playoff mixer. They are certainly not going to be going to POLUKR now.

In qualifying Group B, the Republic of Ireland faced Andorra at the Estadio Communal. The men in green were in no mood to hang around with Kevin Doyle and Aiden McGeady hitting the net pretty sharpish and Geovanni Trappatoni's crew pretty much running the show. In the second half the Andorrans were left pretty much relying on their goalie to keep the scoreline down and credit where credit's due he did so. Job done for the Irish though. That leaves the Irish 2nd in the group and on course for the playoff mixer. THey lie two points behind Russia and a trip to POLUKR and one point ahead of Armenia and non-qualification.

So, let's finish off with a look at the playoff mixer. With one round of games to go it looks like this: Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Estonia, Bosnia, Sweden, Croatia, Montenegro, Denmark and Scotland. Scotland are the main team of interest for me in that group, they lie 9th in the virtual group though, ten points behind leaders Sweden and a trip to POLUKR. The Tartan Army are currently on course for the playoffs which will still be a pretty impressive achievement. The other team odf interest is the Republic of Ireland who lie 4th in the virtual group, three points behind Sweden and a spot in POLUKR. They're also on course for the playoffs and assuming a sane draw, may well fancy their chances.

Not so bad.

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