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| October 13, 2003 | Monday | Sha'aban 16, 1424 |
Battling England hold off Turks to reach finals
ISTANBUL, Oct 12: England sealed automatic qualification for the Euro 2004 finals after a battling 0-0 draw against closest rivals Turkey gave them the point they needed in a highly charged Group Seven encounter in Istanbul on Saturday.
After one of the most turbulent weeks in their history, England produced a composed and disciplined performance to seal their place in Portugal and leave Turkey facing the lottery of the play-offs.
Skipper David Beckham missed a first half penalty, but in the end it proved irrelevant as Sven Goran Erikssons side held out against mounting pressure to provide a happy end to a week racked by controversy.
The England squad had shown solidarity in their threats to strike following the omission of Rio Ferdinand for failing to take a random drugs test, and they reproduced that unity and strength of purpose on the pitch.
Greece, Switzerland WIN
Hamburg: Underdogs Greece and Switzerland on Saturday held on to their leads in their Euro 2004 groups to advance to next year’s finals in Portugal.
Greece beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in a Group 6 match, while the Swiss made no mistake in Basel against the Republic of Ireland, winning 2-0.
In Athens, the home side, who last qualified for the finals in 1980, went into the match leading their group, but struggled against tail-enders Northern Ireland, who had failed to score in their seven previous group games.
Greece finally managed the breakthrough in the 70 minute after Irish defender George McCartney was adjudged to have committed a professional foul in the area. The Sunderland player was sent off and the referee pointed to the spot.
AEK Athens midfielder Vassilis Tsartas made no mistake with the penalty to send his team through to the finals.
Spain, who won 4-0 in Armenia through an early goal by Juan Valeron (7) and late strikes from Raul (74) and substitute Reyes Calderon (87 and 90), finished second in the group and qualify for the play-offs.
In Sarajevo, Denmark went ahead against Bosnia & Herzegovina in the 12th minute through Martin Jorgensen, but then desperately had to hold on to the point after Elvir Bolic equalized for the Bosnians late in the first half.
Victory for the home side would have given them first place in Group 2, but Denmark managed to see out the second half without conceding a second goal.
They did lose Thomas Gravesen through a red card in injury time and the Everton midfielder now faces a suspension and will miss his country’s first games in Portugal.
Norway, who went into the last round of matches in fourth place, failed to impress against minnows Luxembourg, but got the victory they needed to leapfrog over Romania and Bosnia to clinch second place and a place in the play-offs.
Tore Andre Flo, who recently joined Italian Serie A club Siena, scored the only goal of the match in the 18th minute.
Apart from Bosnia, other big losers on the night were Belgium, who went out of the competition even though they beat Estonia 2-0 in Group 8, because Croatia managed to inflict a first defeat on Bulgaria.
Elsewhere, Poland can justifiably feel aggrieved as footballing minnows Latvia caused a huge upset when they beat Group 4 winners Sweden 1-0 to qualify for the play-offs.
Striker Maris Verpakovskis scored the only goal of the match in the 23rd minute for the visitors, who were reduced to ten men after Dzintars Zirnis was sent off in the 73rd minute.
Sweden, who had already qualified before the match, missed a second half penalty that would have given the Poles - who won 2-1 in Hungary - a place in the play-offs.
Earlier, Switzerland beat the Republic of Ireland 2-0 to secure top place in Group 10, ahead of Russia, who beat Georgia 3-1.
In Hamburg, Germany secured their ticket for Portugal with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Iceland in Hamburg in a Group 5 match. Midfielder Michael Ballack opened the scoring in the ninth minute for the three-time champions, before Fredi Bobic (59) and Kevin Kuranyi (79) added two more goals after the break.
As third-placed Scotland beat Lithuania 1-0 in Glasgow through Darren Fletcher’s 70th minute goal, Iceland slipped out of the play- off places, which will now go to the Scots.
Austria and the Czech Republic played a five-goal thriller, which the Czechs won 3-2 in Group 3. The result had no bearings on the outcome of the group, which was won by the Czech Republic, ahead of Netherlands, who beat Moldova 5-0.
Italy comfortably won Group 9 after beating Azerbaijan 4-0. Wales finished second, even though they lost at home to Serbia & Montenegro.
The only team to win all their qualifying matches was France, who rounded off their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 victory against France in Group 1. Second-placed Slovenia drew 2-2 with Cyprus.— dpa
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