LONDON (AP): Italy moved back into the chase for a spot at next year's
European Championship, beating Scotland 2-0 Wednesday, and England also
played itself back into contention by downing Andorra 3-0.
England's win, however, will do little to ease the pressure on coach Steve
McClaren, who had been winless in five straight games before facing a
team with only one competitive victory.
The Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland and defending champion Greece
also won on a night when another 20 Euro 2008 qualifiers were played.
Italy, which has failed to impress since beating France on penalties in
the World Cup final, got goals from Luca Toni in the 12th and 70th minutes.
It was Italy's third straight win after a rough start to qualifying and
it may have saved coach Roberto Donadoni's job.
The Italians improved to 10 points in Group B, trailing Scotland, France
and Ukraine by two.
Ukraine moved into a tie for the lead by beating Lithuania 1-0 on Oleg
Gusev's 47th-minute goal off a cross from Maxim Kalinichenko.
England got two second-half goals from Steven Gerrard and another from
David Nugent in injury time.
Wayne Rooney chested a ball to Gerrard on the edge of the in the 54th
minute, and the Liverpool midfielder added the second in the 76th after
rolling the ball under goalkeeper Koldo Alvarez.
The win put England into a three-way for second place in Group E with
Israel and Russia on 11 points. Croatia leads with 13 points.
Israel beat Estonia 4-0 with teenage striker Ben Sahar scoring two goals.
Roberto Colautti and Idan Tal added the others.
Sahar, a 17-year-old Chelsea striker who entered as a substitute in the
65th, put Israel up 3-0 with a chip over Estonia goalkeeper Mart Poom
from inside the six-yard box in the 77th. He added the other in the 79th
when he scored from inside the area.
"When I scored the first goal I put my face in my hands as I couldn't
believe it. It was a dream for me to score my first goals in the Israel
national team's senior team,'' Sahar said.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored a late goal to lead the Netherlands over
Slovenia 1-0.
The FC Barcelona defender sent a deflected ball into the top corner of
goal in the 85th minute to keep the Dutch team atop Group G.
The Czech Republic moved back into a tie for first place in Group D with
a 1-0 win over Cyprus.
Radoslav Kovac scored his first international goal in the 20th minute
to put the team at the top of the group with Germany. Both teams have
13 points but Germany, which lost to Denmark 1-0 in a friendly, has a
game in hand.
Croatian referee Ivan Bebek originally gave the goal to Jan Koller, who
appeared to slightly deflect Kovac's header with his right foot after
a corner kick from Tomas Rosicky. But the hosts appealed the decision
and the referee finally gave it to Kovac.
"I didn't touch the ball,'' Koller said.
Also in Group D, Ireland beat Slovakia 1-0 and Wales downed San Marino
3-0. Kevin Doyle headed in the only goal for the Irish in the 12th minute.
Poland took a commanding lead in Group A by beating Armenia 1-0, while
Portugal was held to a 1-1 draw at Serbia.
Maciej Zurawski scored the winning goal for the Poles in the 26th minute,
curling in a low shot after a pass from Michal Zewlakow.
Portugal took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute on a long-range lob from
Tiago Mendes that caught Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic wrong-footed.
But Bosko Jankovic leveled for Serbia in the 37th with a powerful header
from inside the box after a corner kick by Dejan Stankovic.
"We played much better in the second half, but we should be satisfied
with this result,'' Tiago said. "After all, this was an away match
against a very good squad.''
Poland has 16 points, five more than Portugal, Serbia and Finland, which
was upset 1-0 by Azerbaijan.
Greece struggled to beat Malta 1-0 only four days after losing to Turkey
4-1 in Athens.
Angelos Basinas converted a penalty in the 66th after Roderick Briffa
was sent off for bringing down Fanis Gekas.
"The Turkey match affected us psychologically,'' Greece coach Otto
Rehhagel said. "So we had to go out and win and that's what we did.''
The win moved the Greeks within one point of Group C leader Turkey, which
got two second-half goals from Hamit Altintop to draw 2-2 with Norway.
Simen Brenne and Martin Andresen scored a goal each for Norway in the
first half.
Liechtenstein also pulled off an upset, beating Euro 2004 qualifier Latvia
1-0 in Group F. Mario Frick scored for Liechtenstein in the 17th.
Northern Ireland beat Sweden 2-1 to move to the top of the group with
13 points.
David Healy, who scored three goals on Saturday against Liechtenstein,
added two more against Sweden, which dropped to second in the group with
12 points.
Also, it was: Georgia 3, Faeroe Islands 1; Hungary 2, Moldova 0; Bulgaria
0, Albania 0; and Romania 3, Luxembourg 0.
,
March 29, 2007.
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