Sunday, 09.10.2011
Group G
Montenegro 2-2 England
The local victory against England, may give Montenegro the good chance to fight for the lead in the group. It is not “Mission: Impossible” because the English don´t show an excellent football in the last matches. Nevertheless, the guest team made locals to feel uncomfortable at home. In the 11 minute Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott made a top pass for Ashley Young. Young crowned the combination with exact headkick. In the 31 minute goalscorer turned provider for the next goal, Young surging into the area and playing Bent in for a simple finish despite having only had Mladen Božović to beat.
However, Montenegro didn´t get confused. They went away for the rest with one win goal. In the 45 minute Zverotić collected Fatos Beqiraj's ball from the right, with his deflected shot wrong-footing Joe Hart in the England goal.
The second half-time both team showed equal level of the game. In the 74 minute guests had some nervous breakdown. Wayne Rooney beat the legs of the Montenegro’s player and, that is why, he was eliminated. The red card had a mysterious effect on the Englishmen and they calmed down. So in the added time Montenegrins pressurized the English net. Stefan Savić from the right flank kicked to the far away stand and Andrija Delibašić redoubled the score.
The English guaranteed the first place and tickets for the EURO 2012 and Montenegrins secured their second place after the Switzerland defeat. Montenegro went for playoffs. After the draw with Englishmen they were full of joy like their dearest wish came true and pretended like the second place was the real aim. “We are afraid of nothing when we play in a full strength. We fight with England without three players from the main stuff and win a point. We think that this can do only the good team,” said Branko Brnović, the locals’ main coach.
Wales 2-0 Switzerland
Group H
Portugal 5-3 Iceland
Portugal with 100% outsider of the group decided to play on the nerves of the football fans and stretched the intrigue in the match. During the first half-time, locals scores three goals without a respond. After the break, guests woke up and answered with two goals. Thus, only at the last ten minutes of the match (in the 81 and 87 minute) Portugal left dangerous situation but in the additional time missed one more goal – penalty!
Cyprus 1-4 Denmark
Denmark shares the first position with Portugal. They both had the equal number of points and in the last round they are waiting for the moment to face each other in the duel. Victory, draw and even minimal defeat and Portugal qualifies for EURO, Denmark win 2 ball ahead and they will occupy the first place.
Group I
Czech Republic 0-2 Spain
They say that Czech Republic national team goes through not the best times – the shift of generation. Confirming that, Czechs played badly and were armless in front of Spain. From the other hand, who can beat the ongoing Spain?
In the 7 minute, Juan Mata faced his co-player in the Chelsea, goalkeeper Petr Čech and overplayed him. 0-1. The second goal didn’t make anyone to wait much. In the 23 minute David Silva made a pass from the flank right to Xabi Alonso that stand in the penalty area. The last was exact – 0-2. From this very minute, Spaniards were firm and didn’t lose the scored advantage.
Liechtenstein 0-1 Scotland
Scotland, as tradition, played the match the day after, October 8.
The match with always outsider (however, they look good recently) Liechtenstein wasn’t a walk to remember for British team, in general, because of the failure of the lucky moments. Judge by yourself: the guests had 19 attempt on the target (five time more than locals had), guests had 8 corner kicks and locals only one. Therefore, only one scored goal! Craig Mackail-Smith saved his national team. In the 32 minute he run away from the defense and headed the ball into the locals’ net and so scored the only one goal in the game.
After this victory and Czech’s defeat, Scotland occupied the second place, one point ahead the Czech Republic. The last round will be the tough one for the Scots; the furious Spaniards will test them! Thus, Czech will pay a visit to more comfortable Lithuania.
