Philip Rolfe

McLaren off to comfortable start with England

Steve McLaren's first match in charge of England was as comfortable as he's have expected and hoped. An aggressive midfield line-up forced Austria onto the back foot from the off, and any fears of an upset were alleviated in the seventh minute as Ashley Cole and Kieron Dyer combined down the left to give Michael Owen his 28th international goal. Austria were swamped by the English dominance, as Joe Cole and then Alan Smith proceeded to go agonisingly close to doubling the lead. By half time Smith again, Etherington, and Terry had all been prevented by Alex Manninger. It took Michael Owen again to give England the two goal cushion, as in the 51st minute it was the Liverpool man who stretched to reach Alan Smith's misplaced shot and divert it into the Wembley goal. Matthew Piper desperately searched for a goal, but Manninger was the only Austrian to impress. David Dunn and Matt Hamshaw earned their third and fourth caps respectively as McLaren saw the opportunity to give other players a run out, but there was no room for Cherno Samba to come from the bench. The Chelsea striker had been expected to play some part, but McLaren felt the duo of Owen and Smith were enough. And he was right. A nice easy start to McLaren's England job is precisely what he would have wanted.


England 2 (Owen 7, 51)
Austria 0
Attendance - 89,985
Referee - Cristian Bazán (Spain)

England - Fuller, Hargreaves, A.Cole, Ferdinand(c), Terry, J.Cole (Dunn 57), Etherington, Dyer, Owen, Smith, Piper (Hamshaw 73)

Austria - Manninger(c), Lederer, Wimmer, Walker, Scharner, Troyanski (Feldhofer 73), Hörtnagl, Weissenberger (Hiden 64), Linz (Aigner 57), Friesenbichler, Wimmer

Philip Rolfe

History repeats itself in Dublin as World Champs humbled

In a repeat of their meeting eight and a half years ago in qualification for the 2002 World Cup, Mick McCarthy's Republic of Ireland side inflicted a potentially fatal 1-0 defeat to their Dutch opponents. Ciarán and Robbie Keane were irrepressible as the Irish drew on a fiercly partisan crowd to drive to victory. The Dutch came out aggressive early, and if they hadn't have overcooked an early move Ruud Van Nistelrooy may have opened the scoring. Robbie Keane then drove typically at the defence before falling to a good save from Varese's Maarten Stekelenburg. Halfway through the first half Damien Duff forced another save from Stekelenburg, but the first half as a whole was an affair where neither side looked comfortable taking an advantage. The Irish started the second half more assertively, and it showed as Richie Partridge glided along the wing and volleyed wide. As far as Gullit's Dutch side goes, their approach play was nice, but they never took it into a dangerous territory. As the match reached three-quarter length the tide turned in the home side's favour. Robbie Keane held off Hofland and Zonneveld before planting a cross onto Gary Doherty's head. The Leeds man beat the unfortunate Stekelenburg, who otherwise had a faultless performance. Holland finally got their act together, but Hersi and Kuijt both hit attempts over. The win for Ireland may turn out to be of extreme importance, as they may now top Group Six, which would be a great achievement for them.


Ireland 1 (Doherty 66)
Holland 0
Attendance - 47,995
Referee - Ilmar Nool (Romania)

Ireland - Sheridan, Geary (Bull 56), Harte, O'Shea, Gavin, Foley Sheridan, Duff (M.Keane 90), C.Keane, Doherty(c), R.Keane, Partridge (Reid 69)

Holland - Stekelenburg, Oude Kamphuis, Zonneveld, Hofland, Melchiot, Van Der Vaart, Robben (Zenden 56), Mendes Da Silva (c), Van Nistelrooy (Kuijt 56), Hersi, Van Der Meyde

Philip Rolfe

Völler under immense pressure as Germany crash

Rudi Völler is this evening fearing for his job as coach of Germany after they were shockingly humbled 2-0 by Slovenia in Munich's Olympiastadion. Not even the second half debut of Dennis Becker could turn the German performance around, and their qualification campaign has subsequently taken a setback. Suad Filekovic, ironically of Bundesliga club Bochum, gave Slovenia a lead on eight minutes as a spell of Slovenian pressure paid off as the left winger headed in Acimovic's cross. Yet the setback was only meant to be short-term, as Germany expected to come back and win comprehensively. A combination of poor German finishing (personified in Lars Ricken's 35th mintue slash across goal) and a disciplined Slovenia side. Tomas Murko saved finely from Kai Brand's header and shot double late in the first half, as Slovenia went in ahead. Twenty minutes into the second half Hanno Balitsch's volley was superbly stopped by the under-rated Murko. The much hyped Bayern midfielder Dennis Becker made some difference, as he supplied Brand with a simple header the Union Berlin striker amazingly contrived to miss. The reality of the situation began to kick in as time ran out, but Germany panicked too often. Jermaine Jones could have scored had he taken his time, but his late effort was snatched and dragged wide. In injury time Slovenia set off on a counter attack which Germany struggled to contain. Dejan Robnik found himself free in the area to beat Simon Jentszch and complete a shock win which will do their qualification hopes no harm. If Völler's position is tough now, an inferior performance away to Azerbaijan may see the end to his tenure.


Germany 0
Slovenia 2 (Filekovic 8, Robnik 90)
Attendance - 76,232
Referee - Konrad Plautz (Austria)

Germany - Jentzsch, Feulner, Rau, Metzelder(c), Balitsch, Ballack, Bierofka (Becker 57), Walz (Ketelaer 57), Jones, Brand, Ricken (Reich 75)

Slovenia - Murko, Komljenovic (Pus), Lazic, Staric, Kapic(c), Acimovic, Fliekovic, Zlogar, Robnik, Mejac (Kostic), Golob

Philip Rolfe

Round Up
In Group One Croatia gave new manager Zoran Maric the perfect start with a 2-0 win over Slovakia. A goal in each half from Tomislav Sokota and Jurica Vranjes, and a good all round performance will give the Croats heart. Winger Silvester Sabolcki will Wednesday's trip to Denmark with a knee injury picked up in the second half. In the other game, a solitary Lee Jones goal was enough to beat Lithuania at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in a match the Welsh were fortunate to win.

Group Two saw a comfortable win for France in Georgia. As expected, Le Guen's side found it a stroll in the park, with an early David Trezeguet penalty and Anthony Le Tallec's header giving them the points. More worryingly for France are the injuries to Stephane Dalmat and Camel Meriem, who will both be absent for the visit of Latvia. Varese striker Valeri Emilov Bojinov's sixth minute goal for Bulgaria took three crucial points away from Hungary in a tense affair in Budapest. And Latvia beat San Marino 2-1 in Riga with a second half goal from prolific Vladimir Kokhan.

After seeing Spain humbled by Scotland, Group Three's other match was a one sided affair in Tel-Aviv that was settled by one goal from Israel's Asi Tikva. It proved enough to shut off Estonia's challenge (and lack of).

A new look Italy side failed to convince in their opening Group Four match as they drew 1-1 in Belarus. Despite dominating, Francesco Guidolin's new look 3-5-2 formation never looked comfortable with the players, and Italy fell behind twenty minutes from time through Artem Kontsevoy's header - the player who plays for Udinese in Italy. Alessandro Pellicori's first international goal rescued the Azzurri, who have much improvement to do. Greece and Sweden played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in Athens, leaving both sides in much the same state as they started. A 12th minute penalty from Alexandros Papadopoulos was his 32nd goal in 41 games for Greece - a truly incredible total. Sweden turned to their captain Kim Kallstrom drew his side level late on to steal a share of the spoils. Finally, in the battle of the minnows, Faroe Islands inflicted a crushing 6-1 defeat on Luxembourg, with a hat-trick from RunÃ* Olsen stealing the show.

England's 2-0 win over Austria wasn't enough to take them top of Group Five immediately, as Macedonia put three past Armenia without reply. Aico Stojkov scored two in the comfortable win in Skopje.

Ireland's Group Six win over Holland wasn't helped so much by Finland's 3-1 victory in Albania. Ali Aliji gave the home side a shock lead in the nineteenth minute, before a double from Henri Scheweleff and a late goal from Mikael Forssell.

Belgium got off to a poor start in Group Seven as they were held 2-2 at home by a resilient Bosnian side. A win would have seen them take advantage of Germany's shock defeat to Slovenia, but it wasn't to materialise. Stijn Janssens had given them an early lead, but Hasan Salihamidzic' penalty equalled the scores on 68. Tom Peeters' first international goal looked to have won the points for the Belgians, but a last gasp effort drilled in by Nihad Buljugic gave Bosnia an unexpected, and thouroughly undeserved point. Belgium outran their opponents, but their failure to convert cost them dear. Shaun Innui's first half effort gave Azerbaijan a win in Malta in the battle at the bottom.

In Group Eight Portugal broke their Russian curse with a hard-earned 1-0 win in Moscow. A tight match had looked like finishing goalless until ten minutes from time, when Ricardo Quaresma scored a fabulous solo strike. Alain Giresse's side are, despite the early stage of qualifying, even stronger favourites to progress. Moldova and Northern Ireland shared four goals in a draw in Chisinau. Leonardo Kirilov and Victor Comleonoc scored the home side's goals, but McIlroy's troops shared the spoils with goals from Jonathan Black and Joe Dolan.

Iceland are top of Group Nine after the first round with a 2-1 win at home to Cyprus. Joey Gudjonsson's 21st International goal - quite an impressive record for a midfielder- had given Iceland the lead midway through the first half. Cyprus never looked like scoring until Christodoulou pounced with ten minutes left. Thankfully for Atli Edvalðsson's men, Eidur Gudjohnsen lived up to his reputation with a corker of a volley to win the spoils. Swiss hearts were broken in Prague as a 90th minute Marek Heinz penalty gave all the points to the home side. The Czechs probably deserved the win, but nevertheless it is harsh on a Swiss side who defended so valiantly.

BobBev

Great start by the Scots. I'll bet the Tartan Army had a great night or three in Madrid

Philip Rolfe

5th September 2010
Sidney Govou has been called into the French squad as cover for the injured duo of Stephane Dalmat and Camel Meriem. The Real Madrid hitman has seven goals in 25 caps, and could start in a reshuffled French pack at home to Latvia.

6th September 2010
The second round of games sees some sides make their bow in the qualification process, whilst for others it could be a case of win or bust, as results now make a huge impact on the final standings.

Group One - Denmark vs Croatia
Arguably the two best sides in the group are set to slug it out for the automatic qualifying spot. Denmark open their campaign on Wednesday night with Morten Skoubo and Morten Rasmussen set to start up front in their regular 5-3-2 formation. Croatia will miss Sabolcki through injury, and Ivan Bosnjak will look to replace him. Denmark have lost once at home in three years, and are favourites for this one.

Group Three - Ukraine v Spain
After the debacle against Scotland, Spain have a must-win match away in the Ukraine. Their lack of attacking fluidity against Scotland left many wondering why Celtic duo Raul and Fernando Torres were so harshly left out. Güiza may well continue up front, although Bodipo may push for a debut. Andrii Shevchenko and Olexiy Belik have started the season impressively and will no doubt worry the Spanish defence, still as unstable as it ever was. Their last meeting - a 0-0 draw in Portugal 2004 - will suit the home side far better than the Iberians. Only Georgia and Hungary have won in Kyiv in the last ten years, so Spain know the full extent of the task they have in front of them.

Group Five - Romania vs England
Steve McLaren's first real test comes in the form of a trip to Bucharest to get something from an inconsistent Romanian side. Adrian Mutu - the hero of his nation - will start, which could prompt McLaren into deploying Terry as a man marker, as by taking Mutu out of the game, Romania are less of a danger. Cherno Samba looks set to miss out again as Owen and Smith performed well last time out. McLaren knows the size of the task: "If we can get something in Romania, we have a comfortable position in the group. By not losing to our main rivals, the task becomes somewhat easier."

Group Eight - Portugal vs Turkey
A morale boosting win for Portugal in Russia means they face Turkey in high spirits. Two wins against the main contenders for the top spot would put Alain Giresse's side in an enviable position atop Group Eight. The past points to comprehensive wins for Portugal over the Turks in 2004 and 2005, but the Turkey of 2010 are different. Yildiray Basturk runs the show, whilst Akin Serhat has started the new season in fine fettle. Ozdemir Hüseyin may make a defensive debut as Mehmet Oztürk looks for a bright start.

Philip Rolfe

8th September 2010

The rain in Ukraine is pain for Spain

Spanish qualification hopes took a further setback as they suffered a late, Andrii Shevchenko inspired defeat in the rain-sodden Ukraine. José Mari had been given the nod up front in the only change from the side which capitulated at home to Scotland, and it started positively. The Atlético striker came close in the opening minute. Andrii Shevchenko then became more prominent. A free kick shaved the post, and only a last ditch EspÃ*n tackle prevented a solo run finishing in a goal. The Spanish took a lead ten minutes before half time, when Joseba EtxeberrÃ*a's cross was headed past Shovkovskiy by José Mari. If Spain had held out until half time things may have been different. Unfortunately for them, Tymoschuk's cross a minute before the break saw Shevchenko tower way above Pavón and head the equaliser. The AC Milan striker put his country in the lead early in the second half. Spain seemed to still be in the dressing room as Sheva was allowed time and space to line up his effort and plunder his second of the game. Out of nothing, Spain were level shy of the hour. Guayre found a modicom of space, and shot low past Shovkovskiy to equalise. Spain knew a point was better than nothing, but couldn't find a right balance between the two. A minute from time a long throw saw Marcelo battle for possession with that man Shevchenko again. The Greek referee adjudged the contact outside the rules of the game, and Andrii Shevchenko completed a hat-trick to take to 60 International goals. A second defeat for Spain not only leaves them bottom, but Lotina's job is in the highest peril.


Ukraine 3 (Shevchenko 44, 48, 89 pen)
Spain 2 (José Mari 36, Guayre 59)
Attendance - 70,894
Referee - Vasilis Argyropoulos (Greece)

Ukraine - Shovkovskiy, Sviderskiy, Nesmachny, Yaxmanitskiy, Kotov, Baltacha (Shershun 82), Tymoschuk, Rykun (Kalinichenko 52), Shevchenko(c), Valyaev (Rincón 52), Lisitskiy

Spain - Casillas, Puyol (Varela 82), Juanfran, EspÃ*n, Pavón (Marcelo 82), Sales, Reyes(c), Gerard, José Mari, Guayre, EtxeberrÃ*a

Philip Rolfe

Smith and Owen just the job for England

England's position atop Group Five is tonight cemented after an impressive 2-0 victory over a spirited Romanian side in Bucharest. The home side dominated throughout, but English consistency in front of goal saw them home. Adrian Mutu started positively, but as expected John Terry hassled him effectively. Matt Etherington started to dazzle for an unchanged English side, as in the 9th minute he was crudely hacked down when dribbling towards goal - amazingly Radoi evaded disciplinary action. England were comfortable to let the home side exhaust themselves in an effort to win, and then spring. McLaren's side perfected the idea on 31 minutes. Michael Owen led the charge out, and spread the play to Matt Piper. The Roma winger delivered a cross onto Alan Smith's head, and the Hertha man thumped in his 45th international goal to take him within four of Sir Bobby Charlton's record. Mutu escaped long enough to force a stunning stop from Tony Fuller on the stroke of half time, but as the game went on England's game plan was proving effective. Laurentiu Rosu forced another good stop from Fuller as England sat on their lead, ready to break at the first opportunity. With 25 minutes remaining they did it again. The pace of Kieron Dyer, David Dunn, and Michael Owen gave the latter free reign in the Romanian area to score his 30th goal for his nation. Sânmãrtean hit the crossbar in injury time, but England were always favourites to win, and they are now in a fabulous position atop Group Five.


Romania 0
England 2 (Smith 31, Owen 65)
Attendance - 64,954
Referee - Petteri Kari (Finland)

Romania - Dolha, Bãlan, Chivu, Soavã (Contra 57), Rãdoi, Sânmãrtean (Luca 91), Rosu, Codrea, Mihalcea, Mutu(c), Munteanu (Niculae 38)

England - Fuller, Hargreaves, Terry, Ferdinand(c), A.Cole (Curtis 63), J.Cole (Dunn 57), Dyer, Etherington, Owen, Smith, Piper

Philip Rolfe

Turkey stuffed in Lisbon

Portugal signalled their renaissance in this qualification process with a 4-1 mauling of Turkey in Lisbon's National Stadium. It was Turkey who made the early running, with Nihat Kahveci using his speed to his advantage before running out of room. Portugal opening the scoring early after some incisive passing left Ricardo Quaresma free on the edge of the six yard box. A rolled pass gave Felipe Oliviera (ironically of Besiktas in Turkey) a chance he couldn't miss. The duo combined again six minutes later to double the home lead. Oliviera's shot was parried, but Quaresma was on hand to stab the rebound home. The red and green sea was relentless, and on the half hour Portugal were 3-0 up. Again Ricardo Quaresma was behind it, as it was his hard cross that gave Oviedo's Alexandre Mário a first international goal. Just three minutes later the same man executed a sumptuous lob that bounced away off the crossbar. Turkey offered nothing in resistance, as Portugal never allowed them a moment to settle. Basturk forced a decent save from Quim early after the restart, but Ricardo Quaresma was in an unstoppable vein. His dribbling was incredible, but wasn't matched by Nuno Gomes' heading ability. With twenty minutes left Basturk scored a consolation afte skipping three players and drilling in low, but the last word went to Giresse's men. Quaresma came forward again, Carvalho headed the cross on, and right back Toni flicked the ball in for his first ever career goal. If Portugal are in this form consistently, they'll be hard to stop.


Portugal 4 (Oliviera 11, Quaresma 17, Mário 31, Toni 89)
Turkey 1 (Basturk 70)
Attendance - 50,993
Referee - David McGarvey (Scotland)

Portugal - Quim, Toni, Carvalho, Armando (Jorge Andrade 82), Nuno Mata, Pinheiro (Brasao 62), Ricardo Quaresma, Mário, Oliviera(c), Nuno Gomes, Lucas (Pinto 77)

Turkey - Omer, Serkan, Sonkaya, Güngör (Suat 62), Ufuk, Basturk(c), Ibrahim, Inceman, Nihat (Furkan 62), Akin Serhat (Berkant 62), Yilmaz

Philip Rolfe

Round-Up

Croatia took control of Group One with an upset 2-1 win in Denmark. Sunderland's experienced midfielder Thomas Østergaard had given the home side the lead on 21 minutes with a header following some Danish pressure. Veteran keeper Vedran Runje was keeping Croatia in the match, and they were thankful for that later on. Tomislav Sokota's 50th minute free kick brought the visitors level in style, then they stole the win with Ivan Bosnjak's poaching skills after Pedersen had spilled a shot. Wales were humiliated 3-0 in Slovakia, which sets back their campaign a huge amount. Two goals from hitman Robert Vittek and a penalty from Vladimir Kral gave Ladislav Jurkemik's side the three points.

France continued to stroll through Group Two with an easy 5-0 win over Latvia in Paris. Paul Le Guen neglected the opportunity to exhibit some younger talent, and the experienced quality told. A hat-trick for David Trezeguet and two for Sidney Govou were enough to take the win in style. Four goals came in the second half - all headed - as the French showed pure class. Trezeguet in particular was in fine fettle, as he could have easily had ten. Cheyrou and Rivière created four between them on the left, which is a good sign for the balance of the side. An injury time header from Levan Kobiashvili caused an upset in Bulgaria, as Georgia took three vital points to throw the group wide open. Hungary did enough to beat San Marino 1-0 in Serravalle, Zoltán Gera's first half goal winning the day.

Spain's defeat in Ukraine leaves Scotland in a commanding position in Group Three, as they made it two from two with a 3-1 home victory over Israel. Gary Teale's early goal was cancelled out by Oren Shum's header, as Israel threatened to cause an upset. Stephen McPhee continued his fine start to the season (at international level) with a stunning half volley fifteen seconds into the second half. Kevin McNaughton sealed the win, which leaves David Körner's side top by three points.

Greek duo Manolis Ligkos and Alexandros Papadopoulos tore through the Faroes Islands as they found their Group Four feet. Two for the Bologna hitman and one for the Leeds striker take their total to 17 between them in 11 eleven games this year. Italy walked past the hopeless Luxembourg with a 3-0 win in Rome. Alessandro Pellicori scored two on his first start for the Azzurri, whilst Roma striker Eder Bau found the international net for the first time on his home ground. The final game in the group also finished 3-0, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hat-trick polished off Belarus.

As England dominate Group Five, Austria lead the way for second place with a simple 3-0 win over Macedonia. Roman Wallner's first half double, and a late Gunter Friessenbichler tap in gave Austria three easy points.

Ireland continue to lead Group Six as they followed up their 1-0 win over Holland with a Robbie Keane-inspired win in Finland. Two goals in the first nine minutes from the Celtic man were enough to take the three points away from Helsinki. Holland continue to struggle as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Serbia & Montenegro in the ArenA. Rafael van der Vaart scored early on his former home ground, but Ardian Djokaj's first Serbia & Montenegron goal shared the spoils, and leaves the World Champions in a position they would not have forseen after winning the World Cup.

Germany restored a little pride in Group Seven with an easy 4-0 win over Azerbaijan in Baku. Michael Ballack gave the Nationalmannschaft a first half lead, which was doubled early in the second by Kai Brand, who continues to astound. Arne Friedrich's first international goal made it three, and Rostock striker Ralf Schuster's rocket shot made it four. However, the performance was very much a laid back affair, and it seems Rudi Völler may have to do a lot more to get the critics off his back. Bosnia went top of the Group with a 4-1 mauling of Malta. Armin Sistek opened the scoring before most had time to find their seats with a long range cracker, and Mirnel Sadovic doubled the lead midway through the half. Mark Caruana halved the lead, but only for a mere two minutes, as Almir Joldic volleyed the Bosnians into a 3-1 lead. Hasan Salihamidzic completed the scoring for Miso Smaljovic's side, who are joint top now with.....Slovenia. A hat-trick inside the first 21 minutes from Slovenia's Dejan Robnik appeared to have humiliated Belgium and pulled off another shock for Bojan Prasnikar. But Belgium are made of strong stuff, and two Tom Peeters goals, sandwiched by a Kevin Vandenbergh effort, gave the low country an unlikely point. After 35 caps without a goal, Peeters has netted three in two, and the second today came very late on - although it was a spectacular finish.

Portugal will be heartened that Russia failed to beat Northern Ireland in their Group Eight meeting in Belfast. The Irish shocked Russia with their engaging play, and took a deserved lead on 53 minutes through Stoke's Andy Kirk. Karen Rylov equalised immediately, but Russia lost their composure as first Bestchastnykh and then goalscorer Rylov were sent off for despicable tackles. Kirk hit the bar late on as Russia held on by the skin of their teeth.

Poland opened their Group Nine campaign with a 2-0 win over rivals Czech Republic, and two goals from unlikely sources. Maciej Zurawski and Sebastien Mila each netted in eight first half minutes to see off the Czech challenge. Iceland continued their impressive form with a 2-0 win in Switzerland. After Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emil Hallfreðsson had made the score 2-0 after 13 minutes, the Swiss never looked like making a comeback, and the defeat leaves them bottom of the group.