Euro 2008, World Cup Qualifiers, International Friendlies Results

Thud. That’s the sound of England and Scotland running into a brick wall in their efforts to qualify for Euro 2008. Both sides were coming off a nice stretch of play in the competition until they traveled to the former Soviet Union on Wednesday. They aren’t the only countries facing a qualifying challenge. Here’s a down and dirty look at the day’s Euro 2008, World Cup qualifying and international friendlies.

Heading into the contest there was much buzz about the fake turf in Moscow. But it wasn’t the fake turf that did England in against Russia. It was a four-minute stretch in the second half that saw Roman Pavluchenko score a pair of goals for the host team. England’s five-game winning streak was snapped 2-1 and their Euro 2008 fate is no longer in their own hands.

Meanwhile, Scotland was on top of the world entering their contest against Georgia. Coming off of wins against France both home and away, the Scots had their hats handed to them by a gutsy young team from Georgia. The loss means that Scotland will need a win against Italy to qualify for their first international competition since 1998. No easy task, that.

Speaking of France, they couldn’t crack Lithuania until the 80th minute when Thierry Henry scored not once, but twice to lift his country to victory. Henry passes Michel Platini in the record books as the all-time leading goal scorer for France.

Greece are in. They qualified for Euro 2008 with a 1-0 win against Turkey. The loss leaves Turkey fighting with Norway for the second spot in Group C.

Portugal helped their cause with a tight 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan in Almaty. They are three points clear of Serbia who kicked the crap out of Azerbaijan. The Serbs have a game in hand and are four points behind Group A leaders Poland.

Germany are already in and have nothing to play for and play for nothing they did. The Czech Republic put the smackdown on an uninspired German side on Germany soil. You don’t see that very often. Perhaps the players have been too busy reading the headlines about how their team is the best in Europe. That clearly wasn’t the case today. The Czechs clinch a Euro 2008 spot with the 3-0 win.

They might be eliminated from the competition, but my vote for most improved team in Europe goes to Liechtenstein. They trounced Iceland 3-0 today.

In World Cup qualifying, New Zealand took care of Fiji on the road 2-0. This game held intrigue since the first leg in Auckland was canceled due to a visa dispute surrounding Fiji’s starting keeper. On the pitch, the All Whites showed they are the best team in Oceania, which isn’t really saying much now that Australia is playing in Asia.

Sierra Leone kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 leg at home against Guinea-Bissau. The return leg is set for later this month.

It was only a friendly, but the US actually won a game in Europe. Michael Bradley scored the game winner in the 86th minute to help the Yanks beat Switzerland 1-0 and to snap a five-game losing streak.

Here’s a look at the scores from the day’s action.

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela 0-2 Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia 0-0 Colombia
Paraguay 1-0 Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile 2-0 Peru

Oceania World Cup Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji 0-2 New Zealand

African World Cup Qualifiers
Sierra Leon 1-0 Guinea-Bissau

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Kazakhstan 1-2 Portugal
Belgium3-0 Armenia
Azerbaijan 1-6 Serbia
Ukraine 5-0 Faroe Islands
Georgia 2-0 Scotland
Turkey 0-1 Greece
Malta 2-3 Moldova
Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-2 Norway
Macedonia FYR 3-0 Andorra
Russia 2-1 England
Ireland Republic 1-1 Cyprus
Liechtenstein 3-0 Iceland
Denmark 3-1 Latvia
San Marino 1-2 Wales
Luxembourg 0-2 Romania
Sweden 1-1 Northern Ireland
Netherlands 2-0 Slovenia
Germany 0-3 Czech Republic
Albania 1-1 Bulgaria
France 2-0 Lithuania

International Friendlies
-Wed Oct 17
Finland 0-0 Spain
Estonia 0-1 Montenegro
Morocco 2-0 Namibia
Poland 0-1 Hungary
Japan 4-1 Egypt
Austria 3-2 Cote d’Ivoire
Switzerland 0-1 USA
Italy 2-0 South Africa
Mexico v Guatemala
United Arab Emirates v Tunisia
El Salvador v Trinidad & Tobago
Costa Rica v Haiti