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Thursday, June 7 |
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SOCCER: Euro 2008 review
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England's European Championship qualification hopes received a double boost after chief rivals Croatia and Russia played out a goalless draw in Zagreb.
Russia weathered sustained pressure to escape the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb with a vital point in Group E.
Coupled with England`s 3-0 win in Estonia, it means Steve McClaren`s men are now only three points behind leaders Croatia.
Israel joined Croatia at the top of the group with a 2-0 victory over Andorra at a rain-drenched Estadi Comunal.
Goals from Toto Tamuz and Roberto Colautti either side of half-time handed the visitors a second win in four days - the first a 2-1 victory over FYR Macedonia in Skopje.
France remain three points clear of Scotland in Group B as Samir Nasri`s first-half goal proved enough to see off Georgia in Auxerre.
Playmaker Nasri, viewed as the long-term successor to Zinedine Zidane, stroked home a neat finish in the 33rd minute to earn Les Bleus a 1-0 victory and keep them two points clear of Italy in the standings.
Two first-half goals from Fabio Quagliarella gave Italy a 2-0 victory over Lithuania to keep them a point clear of Scotland.
The Sampdoria striker scored the opener on 31 minutes before adding his second on the stroke of half-time.
Northern Ireland lost the leadership of Group F after Sweden routed Scandinavian rivals Iceland 5-0.
Goals from Marcus Allback (two), Anders Svensson, Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg and Markus Rosenberg did the damage for the hosts, who move two points clear of Nigel Worthington`s new side.
They also drop below Spain after two clinical David Villa strikes earned his country their second victory in a matter of days after seeing off Liechtenstein.
Villa netted twice in the opening 15 minutes to put the visitors on their way to a 2-0 win in Vaduz, but the Valencia striker missed the chance for his hat-trick after blazing a late penalty against the crossbar.
Dennis Rommedahl inspired Denmark to victory in Latvia to keep Morten Olsen`s men in contention in the same group.
He opened the scoring after 15 minutes and added a second two minutes later.
Germany moved closer to a place at Euro 2008 with a win over Slovakia in Hamburg.
The Group D leaders went ahead after just 10 minutes when Jan Durica put through his own goal.
Another own goal, this time from Germany`s Christoph Metzelder, allowed Slovakia to draw level 10 minutes later, but after Thomas Hitzlsperger put the hosts ahead two minutes before the break the result was rarely in any doubt.
Poland missed the chance to extend their lead at the top of Group A after slipping to a 1-0 defeat against a battling Armenia side at the Republican Stadium.
Hamlet Mkhitaryan`s 64th-minute free-kick flew past Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc into the top-left corner of the net.
Fourth-placed Finland improved their qualifying chances with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Belgium.
Goals from former Charlton striker Jonatan Johansson and Aleksei Eremenko were enough for the hosts at the Olympiastadion, while Marouane Fellaini`s dismissal early in the second half made the task for Rene Vandereycken`s men a near impossible one.
In the same group, Ruslan Baltiyev`s goal salvaged a 1-1 draw for 10-man Kazakhstan at home to Azerbaijan after defender Maksim Zhalmagambetov was sent off.
The midfielder`s goal cancelled out Vugar Nadyrov`s first-half strike to leave the Azerbaijan side with one point when they should have had three.
European champions Greece extended their lead over Turkey at the top of Group C to five points thanks to Nikos Liberopoulos` injury-time strike in a hard-fought victory over Moldova.
Angelos Charisteas netted with a typical header in the first half for Otto Rehhagel`s men before Viorel Frunza powered home a surprise equaliser with 10 minutes left.
Bosnia-Herzegovina moved ahead of Turkey and up to second on goal difference after a 1-0 win over a stubborn Malta side.
A goal in the sixth minute from striker Zlatan Muslimovic put Fuad Muzurovic`s men on 13 points, having played one more game than Turkey.
Norway kept their qualification hopes on track with a 4-0 win over Hungary.
Former Tottenham striker Steffen Iversen got the ball rolling in the first half before substitute Daniel Braaten and two goals from Aston Villa forward John Carew made certain of the victory to move the Scandinavians level on points with second-placed Turkey.
Romania maintained their two-point lead at the top of Group G after completing the double over Slovenia with a 2-0 win in Timisoara.
Victor Piturca`s side won 2-1 in Celje on Saturday and rounded off an excellent few days thanks to goals from Adrian Mutu and Cosmin Contra.
Second-placed Bulgaria came from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win over Belarus to boost their qualification hopes.
Roman Vasiluk opened the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty but Martin Petrov`s free-kick hauled the home side level five minutes later.
Chavdar Yankov completed the turnaround before half-time.
Albania climbed to fourth in the group with a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg.
A brace from Edmond Kapllani added to Ervin Skela`s opener sent Otto Baric`s team to a second victory in four days over their opponents, following Saturday`s 2-0 triumph in Tirana.Labels: footbal result, football fc, football news, news |
posted by ^%&^
@ 10:50 PM
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Euro Qual. Group B Report: Quagliarella Leads Italy To Precious Win
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Italy put the terrible match against Faroe Islands behind their backs with an excellent performance against Lithuania to avenge the first leg result (1-1).
It was a convincing and determined performance by the entire Azzurri side who took the match into their hands right from the start with Di Natale and Quagliarella going close after just a few minutes of play.
The Italian side kept on pressing until Quagliarella managed to open the score for the World Champions in the 30th minute when his shot from 20 metres went past the helpless Grybauskas.
Lithuania could have equalized in the 42nd minute when Mikoliunas all alone in front of Buffon missed the opportunity to score thanks to the Juventus goalkeeper's reflexes, and three minutes later Quagliarella punished the home side with his second goal of the night. Once again it was a shot from the distance which the opposing goalkeeper could do nothing to stop it from entering his goal.
In the second half Italy held the match in its hands and could have added the third goal, however mostly due to the Azzurri's poor finishing, the result did not change as the match slowly came to an end, with the Italian side controlling the encounter without risking anything in defence.
This is an important win for Roberto Donadoni's team, as the Italians kept in touch with France, who defeated Georgia, and still maintained the lead over Scotland before next September's decisive encounters against Les Bleus and Ukraine for the qualification race.Labels: football fc, football news, football result, news |
| posted by ^%&^
@ 10:49 PM
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euro 2008 : McClaren confident of qualification for Euro 2008
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Although England remain fourth they are now within a point of Russia and have cut the difference with Croatia to three. Israel, who have played a match more, are also three points ahead.
McClaren said: "We have still got a lot to prove - we can't think we have turned the corner because we haven't yet.
"But it's in our hands now, this was a big result for us - we had to win it, we won it comfortably and professionally and that puts us back in the group.
"Four of the last five games are at Wembley and we saw on Friday what a great atmosphere and home it's going to be for England."
McClaren hailed Beckham as "immense" after the Real Madrid midfielder created goals for Peter Crouch and Michael Owen.
England had been set on their way by Joe Cole's excellent finish from a Crouch header.
McClaren said: "David was immense. He has set up three of the four goals we have scored since he came back and that's why he's in the team.
"He got a knock early on but didn't want to come off and when he's playing like that he's invaluable to us but once we got the second and third we could allow him to take a breather.Labels: football fc, football news |
| posted by ^%&^
@ 10:32 PM
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euro 2008 : McClaren confident of qualification for Euro 2008
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A full slate of qualification matches for the 2008 Euro occured Saturday with several shock results surfacing. Two of the biggest matches of the weekend were Spain v Denmark and the Czech Republic v Germany, with Germany and Spain both pulling out 2-1 wins respectively.
England visited Israel but were only able to manage a 0-0 draw as the finishing by the English side was poor. Other draws included Albania v Slovenia (0-0), Moldova v Malta (1-1), and Holland v Romania (0-0).
Kazakhstan earned their first win in competitive play with a 2-1 victory over Serbia, while Ukraine defeated the Faroe Islands by a scoreline of 2-0. Stephen Ireland scored the only goal as the Rebuplic of Ireland defeated Wales 1-0 in Ireland. Scotland pulled off a win at home to Georgia with Craig Beattie scoring a goal in the dying minutes to give them a morale boosting 2-1 victory. Croatia also won at home with a 2-1 victory over Macedonia.
Belarus went into Luxembourg where the visitors came out 2-1 victors, while France also won away at Lithuania. Cyprus fell 3-1 to visiting Slovakia, and Russia won 2-0 in Estonia. Bosnia was another team to win away, as they pulled off a 2-1 victory in Norway. David Healy scored a natural hat-trick for Northen Ireland as they cruised to a 4-1 victory over Liechtenstein, while Turkey pulled off a shock win in Greece as they defeated the current holders by the same scoreline. Portugal put four by Belgium, as Christiano Ronaldo scored two for the Portuguese.
Another full schedule of qualifiers is set for this Wednesday, and big group games include Northern Ireland v Sweeden and Italy v Scotland. England will look to get their qualifying campaign back on track in Andorra, and Greece will attempt the same in Malta.Labels: football fc, football news |
| posted by ^%&^
@ 10:28 PM
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euro 2008 : Faroe Islands 0-2 Scotland
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Scotland are still in it following their 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands -their first in years!
Shaun Malony scored on his debut in a competitive game and then Gary O'Connor made it 2-0 just four minutes later.
Faroe Islands v Scotland Videos
Faroe Islands v Scotland - Shaun Maloney 0-1Labels: football fc, football news |
| posted by ^%&^
@ 10:28 PM
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Wednesday, June 6 |
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Finalist profile: Real Madrid
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The fact that the most-decorated basketball club in European history has returned to the ULEB Cup Final may be taken as proof that the status of this five-year-old competition is growing off the charts. Real Madrid's list of continental titles is second to none in Europe, and its trophy case more crowded than perhaps any on the planet. Crowned European champion a record eight times, Madrid is also the only continental king to reign in four different decades. It also claims five other European trophies, 29 domestic titles, 22 Spanish Cups and various other crowns along the way. Madrid's first trophy came more than 55 years ago, in the 1950-51 Spanish Cup, and its last was the 2005 Spanish League title. In between, its success counted in trophies lifted has outnumbered the club's famous football side. There is only one competition for which Madrid has played a title game but never lifted the trophy: the ULEB Cup. On its second trip in three seasons to Charleroi for a ULEB Cup Final, mighty Madrid plans to make clear that even though 21st century European basketball is more competitive than ever, the continent's best team until now is on the rise once again.
Madrid's history reads like a timeline of the sport in Europe. Its international reputation grew with one of the earliest continental dynasties, four Euroleague-level crowns in five seasons between 1964 and 1968. The first and last came against Spartak Brno of Czechoslovakia, the second against CSKA Moscow and the third against Simmenthal Milan, which had interrupted Madrid's victory string in the middle year. Joaquin Hernandez coached Madrid's first title team, while the legendary Pedro Ferrandiz was on the bench for the other three, directing such superstars of the day as Emiliano Rodriguez and Clifford Luyk. Madrid and Ferrandiz returned to the podium in 1974 to interrupt the identical string - four titles in five years - of Varese, and again in 1978, to top another Italian team, Mobilgirgi, by 81-74 as Walter Szczerbiak starred and Lolo Sainz coached. In 1980, Madrid took the first crown of a new decade by stopping MaccabiTel Aviv 89-85, again under Sainz. A 15-year wait followed until Madrid could call itself champion again, downing Olympiacos 73-61 behind two other legends: Arvydas Sabonis on the court and Zeljko Obradovic on the bench.Labels: football fc, football news, news |
| posted by ^%&^
@ 9:58 PM
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