UEFA Euro 2008: March 28th qualification game roundup

March 28, 2007

Another Full day of matches occurred Wednesday in the qualification rounds of the 2008 Euro. Big games of the day included Italy taking on Scotland, and Sweden visiting Northern Ireland.

Group A
Azerbaijan played host to second place Finland, and Azerbaijan earned their first win of the tournament with a goal from Emin Imamaliev giving them the 1-0 win. Poland played host to last place Armenia, and the group leaders came out on top 1-0. Portugal jumped past Finland into second place with a 1-1 draw with Serbia. Tiago scored after only 5 minutes to give Portugal the lead, but a thirty-seventh minute goal by Bosko Jankovic tied the game for the Serbs.

Group B
Georgia defeated last place Faroe Islands by a scoreline of 3-1, while the Ukraine pulled out a 1-0 win at home to Lithuania. In one of the biggest group matches, Scotland travelled to Italy to take on the Azzuri. A brace from Luca Toni gave Italy a 2-0 win, giving the Italians a great chance of qualifying.

Group C
Hungary jumped over Malta into fifth place with a 1-0 win over Moldova, while Malta lost to visiting Greece by the same scoreline. Group leaders Turkey battled back from a 2-0 deficit to earn a 2-2 draw against fourth place Norway, leaving Turkey one point clear of Greece.

Group D
The Czech Republic squeaked by Cyprus 1-0, giving the Czech's commanding control of second in Group D. The Republic of Ireland kept in close contention for a place in the Euro finals with a 1-0 win over Slovakia. The win leaves the Irish two points back of the second place Czech's. Wales put three past San Marino to give their Euro campaign a boost. A goal after only three minutes by Ryan Giggs was all they needed to win, but defender Gareth Bale and Jason Koumas scored to ensure the points for the Welsh.

Group E
Israel thumped Estonia 4-0 with Chelsea youngster Ben Sahar earning a brace three minutes apart in the second half. In the only other game in the group, England visited Andorra in an attempt to quiet the critics over head coach Steve McClaren. Though the game went into the break 0-0, two goals by Steven Gerrard after the restart and a stoppage time marker by David Nugent lifted England to a convincing away win. The win puts England on 11 points, equal to both Israel and Russia, but the Russians have a game in hand.

Group F
Mario Frick's goal in the seventeenth minute was enough to lift Liechtenstein over Latvia, giving them their first win of the Euro campaign. Northern Ireland came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Sweden by a score of 2-1. Both goals scored for Ireland were by David Healy, who has scored 5 in his past two games. The win pushes Northern Ireland into first over Sweden. A goal in the eighty-first minute by Andres Iniesta lifted Spain over Iceland 1-0. The win lifted Spain past idle Denamrk into fourth place.

Group G
Bulgaria and Albania played out to a stalemate, while Romania put three by Luxembourg to jump into second spot in the group. A goal in the 86th minute by Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave the Netherlands a 1-0 win over Slovenia, and leaves Holland three points clear of Romania at the top of the group.