Translated material
Let's get distracted for a minute
Ukrainians need to defeat the world champions
On the next game day of the European Championship qualifying cycle, a lot was decided in the last minutes. At the end of their meeting with the Georgians, the Ukrainians lost any significant chance of qualifying from the group, in stoppage time the Slovaks spoiled the mood of the Irish, and in the final segment of the meeting with Iceland the Spaniards escaped defeat.The Polish team also scored in the last minutes. Krzynownek's goal against the Portuguese brought Beenhakker's team not only a draw - 2:2, but also left them the leader of Group A. This is already the second disappointing draw between the European vice-champions. A couple of weeks ago, the Portuguese lost points in the match with Armenia. The home team's recovery in the game against Poland was prevented by goalkeeper Ricardo's mistake. At 88 min. Krzynównek's long-range strike took him by surprise, and the ball hit the post, hit the Portuguese goalkeeper in the back and rolled behind the ribbon.
This draw significantly complicated the position of the Portuguese in the qualifying group. Moreover, the Finns seriously intend to compete for reaching the finals of the European Championship. In Belgrade, the Finnish team defended for two halves and in the end, even though they did not create a single scoring chance, they managed to neutralize all the dangerous attacks of the Serbian team - 0:0.
Also, a goalless draw was recorded in the key match of Group B: Italy - France. The head coach of the guests, Raymond Domenech, was forced to watch this match from the stands of Milan's San Siro stadium. The tricolor coach was disqualified by UEFA for unprovenly accusing the referee of the match between the youth teams of Italy and France of biased refereeing. Domenech was pleased with what he saw from the stands: despite the fact that last year's best goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did not allow the guests to convert their chances, he can consider a draw with the world champions a good result for himself. In two days, the French national team will only have to neutralize the Scots, who have soared to second place, in a personal meeting, and Domenech's team can consider themselves a participant in Euro 2008.
In turn, the Italians, if upset by this result, were reassured by Ukraine’s loss of points in the match with Georgia. Oleg Blokhin's team, having scored in the first minutes, attacked throughout the match, missed a lot of chances and received a return goal in the last minute after a corner - 1:1. “With a game like today, I don’t see how we will play with the Italians,” Oleg Blokhin was upset with the result. - Today the team as a whole made mistakes that a world championship quarter-finalist should not allow to make. Especially when the opponent’s team includes boys from the children’s school.”
In turn, coach of the Italian national team Roberto Donadoni said that he was also going to win in Kyiv: “Everyone constantly demands victories, and before every match I hear the same words: you must win today. There’s nowhere to go, we’ll go to Ukraine and seek happiness there.”
The same offensive failure as the Ukrainians befell the Turkish team in Group “C”. The Turks failed to beat modest Malta - 2:2. Moreover, Fatih Terim's team was forced to win back twice. The Maltese's feat gives a chance to grab second place not only for the Norwegians, but also for the Hungarians, who will be visiting Istanbul in two days.
The winner of the first guest ticket to the European Championship, following the hosts of the continental championship Austria and Switzerland, will most likely be determined in group “D”. The German national team remains conditioned to reserve first place. The fate of the second may be decided on Wednesday in Prague, where the Czech team will meet with Ireland. The Irish could have approached this decisive match with better results, if not for a long-range strike from Slovakian Marek Cech, who, already in stoppage time, deprived the guests of victory in Bratislava - 2:2.
On Saturday, the Northern Ireland team was also unlucky in Group F. For the first time, they have a real chance to make it to the continental championship. And largely thanks to the scoring talents of David Healy: the best sniper of the qualifying round already has 11 goals. But in Riga, in the match against Latvia, Healy did not manage to show off his talents, although the guests had many chances.
The Latvians, with Alexander Starkov again at the helm, did not show anything outstanding. The guests scored the only goal themselves - the ball into their own goal after Bleydelis' cross was cut off by Baird. And no matter how hard the Northern Ireland team tried, they failed to crack the hosts’ defense. For the Latvian national team, this victory, by the way, means a lot: the participants of the last European Championship broke their losing streak of seven matches in a row and left last place in the group.
The Spaniards did not take full advantage of Northern Ireland's misfire. Moreover, the team of Luis Aragones, left in the minority after Xabi Alonso's sending off already in the 20th minute, had to lose to the Icelanders on the road. And if not for Iniesta's long-range strike in the 86th minute, the Spaniards would not have avoided a third defeat in this cycle.
The leaders of Group G, Holland and Romania, remained among the teams that have not yet upset their fans, and should soon also formalize their participation in the European Championship. In any case, the Bulgarian team, playing its first game under the leadership of Dimitar Penev, did not use its real chance to interfere in the distribution of tickets. The Dutch easily dealt with the Bulgarians, and the guests were lucky that only two scored against the Orange - Snyder and van Nistelrooy.
Group "A". Serbia - Finland - 0:0, Portugal - Poland - 2:2 (Manisha 50, Ronaldo 73 - Lewandowski 44, Krzynownek 88) . Group "B". Scotland - Lithuania - 3:1 (Boyd 31, McManus 77, McFadden 83 - Danilevicius 61 pen.) , Georgia - Ukraine - 1:1 (Siradze 89 - Shelaev 9) , Italy - France - - 0:0. Group "C". Hungary - Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1:0 (Gero 39 pen.) , Malta - Turkey - 2:2 ( Said 41, Schembri 76 - Altintop 45, Cetin 78) , Moldova - Norway - 0 :1 (Iversen 49) . Group "D". Wales - Germany - 0:2 (Klose 5, 60) , Slovakia - Ireland - 2:2 (Klimpl 37, Czech 90 - Ireland 7, Doyle 57) , San Marino - Czech Republic - 0: 3 (Rosicky 33, Jankulovski 75, Koller 90) . Group "E". Russia - Macedonia - 3:0 (V. Berezutsky 6, Arshavin 83, Kerzhakov 86) , England - Israel - 3:0 (Wright-Phillips 20, Owen 49 , Richards 66) , Croatia - Estonia - 2:0 (Da Silva 39, 45) . Group "F". Latvia - Northern Ireland - 1:0 ( Baird 56, own goal) , Sweden - Denmark - 0:0. Iceland - Spain - 1:1 (Hallfredsson 40 - Iniesta 86 ). Group "G". Luxembourg - Slovenia - 0:3 (Lavrich 7, 47, Novakovic 37) , Belarus - Romania - 1:3 (Romaschenko 20 - Mutu 16, 77 pen., Dike 42) , Holland - Bulgaria - - 2:0 (Snyder 22, van Nistelrooy 58) .
Group "A"
| 1. Poland | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17--9 | 20 |
| 2. Finland | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 11--6 | 18 |
| 3. Portugal | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 18--8 | 16 |
| 4. Serbia | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12--7 | 15 |
| 5. Belgium | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8--12 | 10 |
| 6. Armenia | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4--8 | 8 |
| 7. Kazakhstan | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6--13 | 6 |
| 8. Azerbaijan | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4--17 | 5 |
Group "B"
| 1. France | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15--2 | 19 |
| 2. Italy | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 13--6 | 17 |
| 3. Scotland | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 14--7 | 15 |
| 4. Ukraine | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9--7 | 13 |
| 5. Lithuania | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5--10 | 7 |
| 6. Georgia | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 14--15 | 7 |
| 7. Faroe Islands | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2--27 | 0 |
Group "C"
| 1. Greece | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12--5 | 18 |
| 2. Norway | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 18--6 | 16 |
| 3. Türkiye | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18--8 | 14 |
| 4. Bosnia | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14--15 | 13 |
| 5. Hungary | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8--14 | 9 |
| 6. Malta | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7--17 | 5 |
| 7. Moldova | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4--16 | 2 |
Group "D"
| 1. Germany | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 31--4 | 22 |
| 2. Czech Republic | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 18--4 | 17 |
| 3. Ireland | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14--10 | 14 |
| 4. Slovakia | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 18--15 | 10 |
| 5. Wales | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8--11 | 10 |
| 6. Cyprus | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10--16 | 7 |
| 7. San Marino | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1--40 | 0 |
Group "E"
| 1. Croatia | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 18--4 | 20 |
| 2. Russia | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 14--1 | 18 |
| 3. England | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15--2 | 17 |
| 4. Israel | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 17--10 | 17 |
| 5. Macedonia | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6--10 | 7 |
| 6. Estonia | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2--17 | 3 |
| 7. Andorra | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2--30 | 0 |
Group "F"
| 1. Sweden | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 17--4 | 19 |
| 2. Spain | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 14--7 | 16 |
| 3. North Ireland | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13--9 | 16 |
| 4. Denmark | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9--5 | 11 |
| 5. Iceland | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6--16 | 5 |
| 6. Liechtenstein | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5--21 | 4 |
| 7. Latvia | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5--7 | 6 |
Group "G"
| 1. Romania | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 17--5 | 20 |
| 2. Holland | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10--2 | 17 |
| 3. Bulgaria | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11--6 | 15 |
| 4. Albania | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8--6 | 9 |
| 5. Slovenia | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8--12 | 7 |
| 6. Belarus | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 11--18 | 7 |
| 7. Luxembourg | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1--17 | 0 |