England Beats Estonia 3-0 in Euro 2008 Qualifying; Italy
Wins
By James Cone
June 6 (Bloomberg) -- England beat Estonia 3-0 in a qualifying match for
soccer's 2008 European Championship, while world champion Italy won 2-0
against Lithuania.
Joe Cole, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen scored for England, which last
failed to qualify for the tournament in 1984. Estonia has yet to score
in Group E through seven qualifying games.
``We set about our task well, and we knew they'd tire and we'd start to
create chances,'' England manager Steve McClaren told Sky Sports.
The winners and runners-up in each of seven qualifying pools advance to
the championship next June along with co-hosts Austria and Switzerland.
France beat Georgia 1-0, defending champion Greece defeated Moldova 2-1,
Germany defeated Slovakia 2-1, Spain won 2-0 at Liechtenstein, Sweden
beat Iceland 5-0 and Israel beat Andorra 2-0. Croatia and Russia drew
0-0.
Cole got England's opening goal in Tallinn, Estonia, after 37 minutes,
the Chelsea midfielder's seventh for the national team. He collected the
ball from a flick by Crouch, brought it down on his chest, then turned
and fired in from 15 yards.
Former captain David Beckham, recalled to the national team in May for
the first time since last year's World Cup, created the second goal for
Crouch in the 54th minute. His long pass bounced ahead of the Liverpool
striker, who headed over goalkeeper Mart Poom.
Owen's Goal
Owen then got his first goal in five games for England or his club, Newcastle,
since returning from a knee injury sustained at the World Cup a year ago.
With 37 international goals, he is England's fourth-highest all-time scorer.
Estonia was denied a goal by England captain John Terry, who cleared a
shot from Oliver Konsa off the line in injury time.
Croatia leads the group with 17 points, ahead of Israel on head-to-head
record. Russia has 15 points, with England another point back. England
has home matches against all three rivals.
Samir Nasri got France's only goal against Georgia in Group B, with Fabio
Quagliarella getting both of Italy's scores. France has 18 points, Italy
16 points and Scotland 15 following a 2-0 win against the Faroe Islands.
Greece, which needed an injury-time goal from Nikos Liberopoulos to beat
Moldova, leads Group C by six points over Turkey, Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Norway beat Hungary 4-0 and Bosnia beat Malta 1-0.
Germany's Win
An own goal from Slovakia's Jan Durica and a strike by Thomas Hitzlsperger
in today's only Group D match helped Germany establish a five-point advantage
over the Czech Republic. Ireland is another point behind.
Sweden and Spain remain tied atop Group F after wins, with Northern Ireland
two points back. Denmark, which beat Latvia 2- 0, trails by another three
points. Sweden might be awarded another three points when UEFA decides
in two days on the result of its game against Denmark, which was called
off on June 2 when a Danish fan attacked the referee.
In Group A, Poland lost 1-0 at Armenia, though remains five points ahead
of Serbia, Portugal and Finland. Finland, which today defeated Belgium
2-0, has played one fewer match, while Serbia and Portugal have two extra
games to play.
The group's other two teams, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, tied 1-1.
Romania established a two-point lead in Group G after a 2-0 victory against
Slovenia, while second-place Bulgaria rallied to win 2-1 against Belarus.
The Netherlands is another point back through one fewer game. Albania
beat Luxembourg 3-0.
