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.
I don’t agree. All he does is dive and try to draw free kicks so he can score. He doesn’t even try to be a team player.
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.
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.
2006 World Cup?
you were not alive in 2008..Honest.
who outside of Portugal actually believes cristiano ronaldo is the best player in the world?
I genuinely can’t remember the last time they’ve looked good.
portugal doesnt look good either
hmmm maybe suspending Anelka wasnt such a good idea after all
I just look at the French soccer team and laugh. I laugh harder when they lose to teams like Belarus.
french food rocks
french football sucks