Germany, England remain on course
March 28, 2011, Monday
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GERMANY and England maintained the strong starts shown by Europe's big guns in Euro 2012 qualifying when easy wins over Kazakhstan and Wales, respectively, on Saturday kept them on course for the finals.
Germany hammered the Kazakhs 4-0 in Kaiserslautern with two goals each by Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller to make it five wins out of five in Group A that takes it eight points clear of Belgium and Austria.
England joined Montenegro at the top of Group G with 10 points from four games after a Frank Lampard penalty and a Darren Bent tap-in gave it an easy 2-0 win in Cardiff.
It must have been among the most one-sided of the 100 meetings between the British rivals spanning 132 years.
On Friday, group leaders Spain, Italy, France and Netherlands all won to continue their progress towards the finals in Poland and Ukraine.
It was not all plain sailing for the favorites, however, as Croatia lost 0-1 in Georgia.
Slavan Bilic's side conceded an 89th-minute goal to Levan Kobiashvili to hand top spot in Group F to Greece for whom Vasilis Torosidis scored five minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 win in Malta.
Greece has 11 points, Croatia 10, Georgia nine and Israel seven after it beat Latvia 2-1.
Group H pacesetter Norway, which had won its first three games, needed a late goal to earn a 1-1 home draw with Denmark.
Group B leader Russia also only earned a point as it was held 0-0 in Armenia, allowing Ireland, 2-1 winner over visiting Macedonia, and Slovakia, which won 1-0 in Andorra, to join it in a three-way tie at the top, all on 10 points.
The nine group winners and one runner-up with the best record qualify automatically for the finals with the eight other runners-up going into playoffs to produce four more qualifiers to join the two host nations.
Germany, three-time winner and three-time losing finalist, can already start planning for its next assault on the championship after another dominating display.
Mueller, top scorer in the 2010 World Cup, struck twice before the break, both times set up by Mesut Ozil, as the injury-hit visitors struggled to deal with the German attack.
Klose, out of favor at Bayern Munich, continued to reward the faith shown by national coach Joachim Lowe when he scored at the start and end of the match, finding the target for a sixth consecutive game and taking his tally to 61 in 107 matches.
The win takes Germany to 15 points from five games, in which it has scored 17 goals and conceded one. Belgium and Austria have seven points.
Local derby
England recovered from the blip of being held at home by Montenegro last time out with an easy win. The game had been billed as a potentially tricky local derby but was effectively over after 15 minutes thanks to Lampard's penalty and Bent's close-range finish.
England and Montenegro have 10 points with Switzerland and Bulgaria, who drew 0-0 in Sofia, on four. Wales has lost all four games.
Denmark looked to be on course for an important win in Oslo after a superb shot by Dennis Rommedahl gave it a deserved 27th-minute lead but Eric Huseklepp equalized nine minutes from time.
The point kept Norway top of Group H on 10 points, three clear of Portugal and Denmark. Cyprus and Iceland drew 0-0 in the group's other game.
Bosnia stayed in the hunt in Group D as it beat Romania 2-1 to move to seven points. Albania beat Belarus 1-0 to leave both teams on eight, four adrift of leader France.
Slovakia made hard work of beating Andorra in Group B as Filip Sebo's 21st-minute header was all it could muster in the tiny nation which has lost all five games.
Ireland looked set in Dublin as two goalkeeping errors by Edin Nuredinovski allowed Aiden McGeady and Robbie Keane to put it 2-0 ahead but after Ivan Trichkovski pulled one back it was a nervous second half for the host.
Germany hammered the Kazakhs 4-0 in Kaiserslautern with two goals each by Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller to make it five wins out of five in Group A that takes it eight points clear of Belgium and Austria.
England joined Montenegro at the top of Group G with 10 points from four games after a Frank Lampard penalty and a Darren Bent tap-in gave it an easy 2-0 win in Cardiff.
It must have been among the most one-sided of the 100 meetings between the British rivals spanning 132 years.
On Friday, group leaders Spain, Italy, France and Netherlands all won to continue their progress towards the finals in Poland and Ukraine.
It was not all plain sailing for the favorites, however, as Croatia lost 0-1 in Georgia.
Slavan Bilic's side conceded an 89th-minute goal to Levan Kobiashvili to hand top spot in Group F to Greece for whom Vasilis Torosidis scored five minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 win in Malta.
Greece has 11 points, Croatia 10, Georgia nine and Israel seven after it beat Latvia 2-1.
Group H pacesetter Norway, which had won its first three games, needed a late goal to earn a 1-1 home draw with Denmark.
Group B leader Russia also only earned a point as it was held 0-0 in Armenia, allowing Ireland, 2-1 winner over visiting Macedonia, and Slovakia, which won 1-0 in Andorra, to join it in a three-way tie at the top, all on 10 points.
The nine group winners and one runner-up with the best record qualify automatically for the finals with the eight other runners-up going into playoffs to produce four more qualifiers to join the two host nations.
Germany, three-time winner and three-time losing finalist, can already start planning for its next assault on the championship after another dominating display.
Mueller, top scorer in the 2010 World Cup, struck twice before the break, both times set up by Mesut Ozil, as the injury-hit visitors struggled to deal with the German attack.
Klose, out of favor at Bayern Munich, continued to reward the faith shown by national coach Joachim Lowe when he scored at the start and end of the match, finding the target for a sixth consecutive game and taking his tally to 61 in 107 matches.
The win takes Germany to 15 points from five games, in which it has scored 17 goals and conceded one. Belgium and Austria have seven points.
Local derby
England recovered from the blip of being held at home by Montenegro last time out with an easy win. The game had been billed as a potentially tricky local derby but was effectively over after 15 minutes thanks to Lampard's penalty and Bent's close-range finish.
England and Montenegro have 10 points with Switzerland and Bulgaria, who drew 0-0 in Sofia, on four. Wales has lost all four games.
Denmark looked to be on course for an important win in Oslo after a superb shot by Dennis Rommedahl gave it a deserved 27th-minute lead but Eric Huseklepp equalized nine minutes from time.
The point kept Norway top of Group H on 10 points, three clear of Portugal and Denmark. Cyprus and Iceland drew 0-0 in the group's other game.
Bosnia stayed in the hunt in Group D as it beat Romania 2-1 to move to seven points. Albania beat Belarus 1-0 to leave both teams on eight, four adrift of leader France.
Slovakia made hard work of beating Andorra in Group B as Filip Sebo's 21st-minute header was all it could muster in the tiny nation which has lost all five games.
Ireland looked set in Dublin as two goalkeeping errors by Edin Nuredinovski allowed Aiden McGeady and Robbie Keane to put it 2-0 ahead but after Ivan Trichkovski pulled one back it was a nervous second half for the host.
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