UEFA Euro 2016 France Qualifiers day 9 wrap-up
Ireland 1-0 Germany – Ireland with a famous win in Dublin. Ireland held on to Germany in the first half and was able to score thanks to Long whose fabulous strike gave the lead and the victory 1-0 vs Germany. the Irish still have a chance to qualify directly to France if they win in Poland. Scotland 2-2 Poland. The team of Lewandowski who added two more goals to his fantastic run over the past couple months will qualify directly with a draw.
Northern Ireland 3-1 Greece – Northern Ireland made history qualifying for the first time to the Euro Finals. Forward Steve Davis reacts on the historic night: ‘I’ve spoke about it before and said how much the fans play a part in our success and again they pushed us on tonight and I’m delighted for them as well obviously they supported us through thick and thin and now they can enjoy his success as well .”
Switzerland and Spain book spot to France with winning respectively 7-0 vs San marino and 4-0 Luxembourg. It did not take much long fir either team to secure their berth for next year’s Finals.
Russia and Sweden fight for direct berth. Moldova 1-2 Russia and Liechenstein 0-2 Sweden. Ibrahimovic missed a penalty during the first half but then scored in the second half to ease a must win. Austria keep winning and now have 25 points in 9 games.. what a run!
England makes 9 for 9 and aims at a perfect campaign with a 10th win. England 2-0 Estonia. Coach Roy Hodgson made a few changes to his lineup and was delighted with the performance: “I think Ross Barkley has been important to the group for a long time and he’s been maturing over a long period of time. I thought there were other very good performances apart from his, so I imagine it wasn’t an easy job to choose the man of the match but I’m pleased that Ross has got it”. The Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who scored v. Estonia, aims at the big 10! “We want to make it ten on Monday night. It is a nice little thing to have – we want to win every game but we will be more tested in these friendlies coming up [France and Spain] and everyone wants to win competitions and make this country proud”.
Portugal 1-0 Denmark: Portugal will be in France next year with a big support from all the Portuguese there. Cristiano Ronaldo said that “It has been a tough campaign which started badly but ended on a high. Fernando Santos’s arrival did us good. It is also a good thing not to have to rely on other results. We are a team who gamble and want to win. Credit has to go to the players – the ones here and the others that played throughout the campaign. They all want to be here, they all want to put in the effort, and that was the key to qualifying. Playing in France will be great for us.”
Italy clinched the Euro Finals with a 3-1 win in Azerbadjan. They will be joined by Norway who disposed of Malta 2-0.
Czech Republic 0-2 Turkey. Turkey is almost through the Euro 2016 playoffs for France after winning in Czech Republic. Despite their victory in Kazakhstan 2-1, the Netherlands are almost out and do not control their destiny. What a disgrace it will for the Dutch after finishing third last during the FIFA 2014 Brazil World Cup.
Andorra 1-4 Belgium. Belgium will go to France and are to be the outsider with their young talented squad. Bosnia 2-0 Wales. Despite the defeat, Bale’s and Ramsey’s teammates will see France and qualify for a major tournament since 1958! Bosnia passed Israel who shockingly lost at home to Cyprus and seriously endanger their chance to make it to the playoffs.
Sunday 11 starts day 10 and group D and F will be decided. Germany, Ireland and Poland are fighting for the first two spots with the edge favorable to the World Champions while Hungary and Romania will square off in the battle that Finland can still join… still lot at stakes!
