Euro 2012 Qualifying

[Andriy Czarchenko]

Down a man against bloody Moldova. Typical Finnish football.

[Renasko]

I checked out the national side, after hearing Gudjohnson was low on fitness. Surprised he isn't involved. Hyypia and Litmanen still are.

[Fireball07]

Gudjohnsen is from Iceland...

[The Iceman of the North]

Gudjohnsen is from Iceland...

Iceland, Finland, they both end in -land, there's hardly any difference between those countries, are there?

[Renasko]

Errr...don't know where I got that from. I was multitasking. :D He's not involved in any case.

[Andriy Czarchenko]

And Moldova wins 2-0!

After Hyypiä was sent off we had 2 defensive midfielders playing centreback while 2 centrebacks played as fullbacks. :bang:

[Alcibiades]

Weee.... early goal for ENG. I give England a hard time, but I really do want to see them succeed.

[Renasko]

Great start from England. They're playing with intensity and hunger. Wonderful to see what they can do when they take to the game in this manner.

[The Iceman of the North]

I checked out the national side, after hearing Gudjohnson was low on fitness.

He's not even on the bench in Iceland.

[Renasko]

Said that, not once - but twice. :D

Surprised he isn't involved.

He's not involved in any case.

England have continued their bright play in this qualifier. Bulgaria are attempting to find their way back into the game, with Popov in particular looking to get involved. Haven't seen anything from Bojinov yet. Dmitar Berbatov would've been useful to have up top to steady the ship for them.

[Alcibiades]

I'm glad England are playing well, but they really need to find a system that puts a 5th man in midfield.

[Renasko]

Rooney isn't playing great, of late, but on form he's the man to have up top on his own. It seems a waste to have a striker like Defoe on the bench, but it'd benefit the team more generally. For example, look at the first eleven now. There's not one holding midfielder. The nearest thing they have to one is Gareth Barry, which is disastrous. Capello has the wrong idea about Barry. He should put Parker or Cattermole in there. Someone who fights for the ball and isn't afraid of tackling.

[dajamieson]

Can somebody please disconnect John Collins' microphone.....now.....I'll pay anything!

[The Iceman of the North]

Murdo MacLeod has given Scotland the kiss of death by saying that Scotland have twelve points "in the bag before the campaign even starts" because they've got Lithuania and Litchenstein in the group. :mellow:

Make that 10 points...

But I'm sure 10 points is enough to compete for a third place.

[Black Wizard]

That was so boring. The Lithuanians constant spoiling tactics didn't help either. Bad result yet mabye not a disaster. In hindsight I don't think playing 4-1-4-1 was the best way to approach the game. If Scotland had played 4-4-2 then I think they'd have been a bigger goal threat.

David Villa is now joint all-time top goalscorer for Spain.

[Jon AS]

Not very exciting stuff from Belgium and Germany, but 3 points in one of the most difficult games of the campaign are certainly nice. I was a bit surprised to see the Belgians take off a striker and play even more defensively after they'd gone behind. Talk about resigning yourself to your fate.

Also, Vermaelen really should have gotten a few yellow cards and Cacau could easily have gotten a red for that wrestling match with Vertonghen (who could also have gotten something for his involvement in the incident).

[The Iceman of the North]

A rare away win for Norway at Iceland, the first win against them in a competitive match for more than three decades. A good start for us, while Portugal is really struggling at home to Cyprus, having come back from behind twice in the first half.

France losing at home to Belarus must be the upset of the round, unless Cyprus overcomes Portugal in the second half.

[kuroishi]

And France fails once again. It's so frustrating. The players and coaches come and go, but the same problems remain : the defense always seems and is actually frail, losing focus in the worst possible moment (but both Hleb's work on the goal was magnificent it must be said), and the attack lacks rythm and looks like it could play for entire days without ever scoring a goal (barring an exceptionnal individual feat which almost never happens).

[Black Wizard]

Are England now the best team in the world and garaunteed to win the 2012 European Championships in a heroic repeat of the scenes of 66? DO IT 4 BOBBY!

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

And France fails once again. It's so frustrating. The players and coaches come and go, but the same problems remain : the defense always seems and is actually frail, losing focus in the worst possible moment (but both Hleb's work on the goal was magnificent it must be said), and the attack lacks rythm and looks like it could play for entire days without ever scoring a goal (barring an exceptionnal individual feat which almost never happens).

Your problem has never really been a frail defense though. You simply don't score enough goals!

Sweden won pretty comfortably against Hungary. We didn't play very well, but we created plenty of high quality chances and in the end the win was never really threatened.