Russia, Slovakia clinch places in Euro finals

Published October 14, 2015
MOSCOW: Russia’s Denis Cheryshev shoots during the Euro 2016 qualifier against Montenegro at the Otkrytie Arena Stadium.--AFP
MOSCOW: Russia’s Denis Cheryshev shoots during the Euro 2016 qualifier against Montenegro at the Otkrytie Arena Stadium.--AFP

LONDON: Russia are returning to the European Championship for the fourth straight time, while Slovakia will be playing in the tournament for the first time as an independent nation.

Russia, who host the World Cup in 2018, made sure they will be guests at France’s party next year with a 2-0 win over Montenegro in Moscow on Monday, securing second place in Group ‘G’ behind group winners Austria.

Slovakia defeated Luxembourg 4-2 to finish second to Spain in Group ‘C’, guaranteeing their first finals’ appearance since they played as a member of the Czechoslovakia in 1992.

Ukraine, Slovenia and Sweden will have to try to qualify through the playoffs.

The top two teams from the nine groups qualify automatically. The best third-placed team also advances, while the other eight meet in a playoff — the draw for which takes place on Sunday.

But both Russia and Slovakia avoided that ordeal by winning on Monday.

Russia booked their place with victory over Montenegro at the Otkrytie Arena in Moscow with Oleg Kuzmin scoring his first goal for his country after 33 minutes and Alexander Kokorin adding a second with a penalty shortly afterwards.

Russia’s qualification had looked in the balance when Fabio Capello was still head coach but his replacement Leonid Slutskiy guided Russia to four wins, beginning with a vital defeat of Sweden.

“The final step is always the hardest, but the players were excellent,” said a delighted Slutskiy. “They managed to turn around what was turning out to be a qualification process which was running out of hope.”

Sweden needed a setback by Russia to finish second in the group but their 2-0 win over Moldova saw them finish with 18 points, two less than Russia and 10 behind Austria.

Captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic put Sweden ahead in Solna with his 59th international goal and eighth in eight qualifiers in the 24th, before Erkan Zengin doubled the lead three minutes after half-time.

Marko Arnautovic scored once and Marc Janko netted a brace as Austria completed their unbeaten qualifying campaign with a straightforward 3-0 win over Liechtenstein in Vienna.

LUXEMBOURG: Lars Gerson (L) of Luxembourg scores on a penalty kick during the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovakia at the Josy Barthel Stadium.--Reuters
LUXEMBOURG: Lars Gerson (L) of Luxembourg scores on a penalty kick during the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovakia at the Josy Barthel Stadium.--Reuters

FABREGAS WINS 100th CAP

Slovakia collected their ticket with their win in Luxembourg while Ukraine’s faint hopes of pipping them for second spot behind defending champions Spain ended when Spain beat them 1-0 in Kiev on the pitch where Spain won the 2012 final against Italy.

Villarreal full-back Mario Gaspar scored with a header on his debut midway through the first half.

Cesc Fabregas captained the side as he won his 100th cap but, with his Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho watching from the stand, his evening was marred when his penalty was saved by Andriy Pyatov in the 25th minute.

Ukraine played well and had a series of scoring chances against, but they were stopped by a remarkable performance by Spain goalkeeper David De Gea.

“Ukraine played well but David de Gea was brilliant too,” Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. “Ukraine [have] a personality that not a lot of sides have and I wish them all the best in the playoffs.”

Slovakia came into the final round of qualifiers level on points with Ukraine and had a few nervous moments at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg after racing into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Marek Hamsik, Adam Nemec and Robert Mak.

Mario Mutsch pulled one back just after the hour and then Lars Gerson netted a penalty for the hosts, but Napoli star Hamsik made sure of the win in stoppage time.

Spain finished with 27 points from 10 matches, while Slovakia ended with 22 points and Ukraine had 19.

ENGLAND’S PERFECT 10

England had already qualified from Group ‘E’ but will travel to France without a single blemish against their qualification campaign.

Goals from Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, either side of keeper Giedrius Arlauskis’ own goal, sealed a 3-0 win over Lithuania as England became only the sixth side to go through an entire qualifying campaign with a 100 percent record after chalking up their 10th successive win.

England join an elite band of France (1992 and 2004 qualifying), Czech Republic (2000), Germany (2012) and Spain (2012) as the only other nations to end a Euro qualifying campaign with a perfect record.

“This is an achievement. I am very proud of the players’ performances, “head coach Roy Hodgson said.

“The quality of play was good and 10 wins out of 10 is very satisfying. We’ve got to take a lot of pride in that,” added Hodgson, whose Lithuanian counterpart Igoris Pankratjevas announced his resignation post-game.

Barkley’s deflected shot put England ahead before Arlauskis unluckily deflected Harry Kane’s shot into his own net for the second and Arsenal’s Oxlade-Chamberlain struck after the interval.

Already-qualified Switzerland beat Estonia 1-0 after an own goal from defender Ragnar Klavan in fourth minute of second-half stoppage time.

That meant the Swiss finished with 21 points, nine adrift of England but five ahead of third-placed Slovenia who confirmed third place and a play-off berth by winning 2-0 in San Marino with Bostjan Cesar and Nejc Pecnik on target.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2015

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