Translated material
Scandinavian passions
The next round of the qualifying tournament was marred by scandal
Football Europe was looking forward to the confrontation between the national teams of two neighboring countries - Denmark and Sweden - with particular interest. Rarely do fights between teams from these now friendly countries (despite the fact that there have been more wars between the two kingdoms in world history than between any other states on the planet) turn out to be boring. Everyone still remembers their match at the last European Championship, when a 2:2 draw that suited both sides knocked the Italian team out of the competition. This time everything was no less interesting and, moreover, without the laughter that was often heard in 2004.The neighbors upset each other three times, the 89th minute was ticking, and the meeting was slowly sliding towards a draw that suited neither side. At this moment, in an unnecessary situation, Danish defender Christian Poulsen struck Swedish striker Marcus Rosenberg in the stomach with his elbow. The match referee, Herbert Fandel, after consulting with his assistant, turned on a red light in front of the Sevilla player. A local fan immediately ran onto the field and slightly twisted the unwanted referee by the neck. The meeting was stopped - Fandel led the teams off the field, and five minutes later the scoreboard, to the bewilderment of the red and white public, showed the score - 3:0 in favor of the Swedish team. However, the result was not recorded. A little later, the UEFA press service reported that the final result of the match would be confirmed only after a special investigation conducted by a disciplinary commission.
The Russian team was at the head of group “E” for only a couple of hours. The Croats, who were opposed by the Estonia national team in Tallinn, did not misfire, having already won their fifth victory in six matches. The only goal in a rather sparse match was scored at the end of half an hour of play, when the naturalized Brazilian Eduardo, who has been defending the colors of the Croatian national team since 2004, showed off his individual skill - 0:1. The “checkered” coach Slaven Bilic was not delighted with his team’s performance, but made it clear that Guus Hiddink and his players were in for a surprise this coming Wednesday. In the same group, Israel defeated Macedonia on the road - 2:1 and, together with our team, as well as the founders of football, continued the pursuit of the Croats.
The Ukrainian team did not look very convincing, which, without Andrei Shevchenko, Sergei Rebrov and Artem Milevsky, measured their strength with the French team in Paris. The only scoring chance created by Oleg Blokhin's team happened at the end of the first half, when Oleg Gusev crossed right at Taras Mikhalik, but he launched the ball into the stands. Well, after the break, numerous attacks by the “tricolors” finally began to end effectively. First, Franck Ribery took advantage of the failure of the Zhovto-Blakyt defenders and opened the scoring, and then Nicolas Anelka demonstrated the wonders of technique, technically throwing the ball over Andrei Rusol and then volleying the ball under the goal bar of Alexander Shovkovsky with his left foot - 2:0.
Among other matches, the match between the national teams of Wales and the Czech Republic, which ended in a goalless draw, attracted attention. In it, Welsh football legend Ryan Giggs said goodbye to the national team. And the return of Alexander Starkov to the post of coach of the Latvian national team did not bring success to the Baltic states. The Spaniards, who struck 27 shots against Alexander Kolinko's goal in Riga, won with a score of 2:0.
Standing apart from the battles of the past week was a friendly game in which the England team, in their first match at the brand new Wembley, hosted the pentacampeons from Brazil. Unfortunately, there was no real celebration of football, as the sign of the match demanded - the British did their best to prevent the guests from showing what they could do, hoping only for endless crosses from David Beckham, who had returned to the national team. It was after one of them that the scoring was opened when John Terry headed the ball into the net. But in the time already added by the referee, Diego, recently recognized as the best player of the season in the German Bundesliga, restored a much fairer draw - 1:1.
European Championship 2008. Qualifying tournament. Group "A". Kazakhstan - Armenia - 1:2 (Baltiev 88 from pen. - Arzumanyan 31, Hovsepyan 39 from pen.). Azerbaijan - Poland - 1:3 (Subasic 6 - Smolarek 63, Krzynowek 66, 90). Finland - Serbia - 0:2 (Jankovic 3, Jovanovic 86). Belgium - Portugal - 1:2 (Fellaini 55 - Nani 43, Postiga 64). Group "B". Lithuania - Georgia - 1:0 (Mikoliunas 78). Faroe Islands - Italy - 1:2 (Jacobsen 77 - F. Inzaghi 12, 48). France - Ukraine - 2:0 (Ribery 57, Anelka 71). Group "C". Bosnia and Herzegovina - Turkey - 3:2 (Muslimovic 27, Dzeko 45, Kustovic 90 - Shukur 13, Sarioglu 39). Norway - Malta - 4:0 (Hestad 31, Helstad 77, Iversen 79, Riise 90). Greece - Hungary - 2:0 (Gekas 16, Seitaridis 29). Group "D". Wales - Czech Republic - 0:0 . Germany - San Marino - 6:0 (Kuranyi 45, Jansen 53, Frings 56 pens, Gomez 63, 65, Fritz 67). Group "E". Russia - Andorra - 4:0 (Kerzhakov 8, 16, 49, Sychev 71). Macedonia - Israel - 1:2 (Stojkov 13 - Yitzhaki 11, Kolautti 44). Estonia - Croatia - 0:1 (Eduardo 32). Group "F". Iceland - Liechtenstein - 1:1 (Gunnarson 27 - Rohrer 69) . Latvia - Spain - 0:2 (Villa 45, Chabi 60). Denmark - Sweden - 3:3 (Agger 34, Thomasson 62, Andreasen 76 - Elmander 7, 26, Hansson 23) - the result may be revised. Group "G". Belarus - Bulgaria - 0:2 ( Berbatov 28, 46). Albania - Luxembourg - 2:0 (Kaplanni 38, Hakshi 57). Slovenia - Romania - 1:2 (Vrsic 90 - Tamas 52, Nikolita 69).
Group "A"
| 1. Poland | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15--6 | 19 |
| 2. Portugal | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15--5 | 14 |
| 3. Serbia | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10--4 | 14 |
| 4. Finland | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7--5 | 11 |
| 5. Belgium | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5--9 | 7 |
| 6. Kazakhstan | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4--10 | 5 |
| 7. Armenia | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2--7 | 4 |
| 8. Azerbaijan | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3--16 | 4 |
Group "B"
| 1. France | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15--2 | 15 |
| 2. Italy | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11--6 | 13 |
| 3. Ukraine | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8--6 | 12 |
| 4. Scotland | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11--6 | 12 |
| 5. Lithuania | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4--5 | 7 |
| 6. Georgia | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 13--13 | 6 |
| 7. Faroe Islands | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2--25 | 0 |
Group "C"
| 1. Greece | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10--4 | 15 |
| 2. Türkiye | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16--6 | 13 |
| 3. Bosnia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13--13 | 10 |
| 4. Norway | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13--5 | 10 |
| 5. Hungary | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7--10 | 6 |
| 6. Malta | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5--14 | 4 |
| 7. Moldova | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3--13 | 2 |
Group "D"
| 1. Germany | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 27--3 | 16 |
| 2. Czech Republic | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15--4 | 14 |
| 3. Ireland | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12--8 | 13 |
| 4. Slovakia | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 15--11 | 9 |
| 5. Wales | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8--9 | 7 |
| 6. Cyprus | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9--16 | 4 |
| 7. San Marino | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1--37 | 0 |
Group "E"
| 1. Croatia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16--4 | 16 |
| 2. Russia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11--1 | 14 |
| 3. Israel | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 15--7 | 14 |
| 4. England | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9--2 | 11 |
| 5. Macedonia | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5--7 | 7 |
| 6. Estonia | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0--11 | 0 |
| 7. Andorra | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1--26 | 0 |
Group "F"
| 1. North Ireland | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10--7 | 13 |
| 2. Sweden | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9--4 | 12 |
| 3. Spain | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11--6 | 12 |
| 4. Denmark | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7--2 | 7 |
| 5. Iceland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5--10 | 4 |
| 6. Liechtenstein | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4--16 | 4 |
| 7. Latvia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4--5 | 3 |
Group "G"
| 1. Romania | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12--4 | 14 |
| 2. Holland | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8--2 | 14 |
| 3. Bulgaria | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9--3 | 12 |
| 4. Belarus | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9--13 | 7 |
| 5. Albania | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5--6 | 6 |
| 6. Slovenia | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5--10 | 4 |
| 7. Luxembourg | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1--11 | 0 |