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Euro 2012 Qualifiers: England rolls, France falls and more

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photo by Greig Cowie/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Qualifiers for Euro 2012 began on Friday, and while some teams were hoping to build off what they had done at the World Cup, others were hoping to start over.

England eased some memories of its bad World Cup showing by defeating Bulgaria, 4-0, to start its qualifying campaign. Jermaine Defoe put up a hat-trick and youngster Adam Johnson scored his first international goal at Wembley Stadium. It wasn't all good news for the Three Lions, as defender Michael Dawson turned his ankle and is expected to miss at least six weeks.

Also hoping to bounce back from a miserable World Cup performance, France hosted Belarus to open its Euro qualifying bid. Unfortunately for Les Bleus and new manager Laurent Blanc, the misery continued with Belarus defeating France, 1-0, courtesy of an 86th minute goal.

Other notable results included World Cup champions Spain returning to its winning ways with a 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein, the Netherlands trumping San Marino 5-0 and Portugal and Cyprus battling to an eight-goal draw.

Here is a complete list of yesterday's results:

GROUP A

Kazakhstan 0-3 Turkey

Belgium 0-1 Germany

GROUP B

Armenia 0-1 Ireland

Slovakia 1-0 Macedonia

Andorra 0-2 Russia

GROUP C

Faroe Islands 0-3 Serbia

Slovenia 0-1 Northern Ireland

Estonia 1-2 Italy

GROUP D

Romania 1-1 Albania

France 0-1 Belarus

Luxembourg 0-3 Bosnia-Herzegovina

GROUP E

Moldova 2-0 Finland

San Marino 0-5 Netherlands

Sweden 2-0 Hungary

GROUP F

Latvia 0-3 Croatia

Greece 1-1 Georgia

GROUP G

Montenegro 1-0 Wales

England 4-0 Bulgaria

GROUP H

Iceland 1-2 Norway

Portugal 4-4 Cyprus

GROUP I

Lithuania 0-0 Scotland

Liechtenstein 0-4 Spain

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What do you think of yesterday's results? Surprised by England's 4-0 win? Is France an unrepairable mess? Surprised by Portugal's draw? 

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Ronaldo is easily top5 best players in the world even on his worse days. Same with Messi. Messi and Xavi are obviously 2 others in the running for top5 even on their worse day.

    Reply
  2. I don’t think ronaldo is the best player in the world, but he is definitely in the conversation. Are you basing this only on his play for the national team? Messi doesn’t exactly set the world on fire when he is playing for Argentina.

    Reply

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