|
Turkey through to next summer's European Championships
Bosnia never really posed a great scoring threat in the match, and the Turks were left to celebrate their advancement at the final whistle. Joining Turkey in Austria and Switzerland next summer is Portugal, who secured the second spot in Group A with a 0-0 draw against Finland. Poland goes through as well from the group as they finished a point ahead of Portugal after drawing 2-2 with Serbia. Kazakhstan beat Armenia 1-0 and Belgium held off Azerbaijan 1-0 in the other two games in the group.
France and Italy had already secured qualification from Group B prior to Wednesday's games, but the Italians took the top spot after beating the Faroe Islands 3-1. France finishes second in the group as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Ukraine as Andriy Shevchenko scored just after halftime to even the match for good. Lithuania beat Georgia in the other contest in Group B. Group D also had its top two teams decided, but like Group B, it needed a winner. The Czech Republic emerged as the top team with its 2-0 defeat of Cyprus as Germany was held to a 0-0 draw by Wales. Slovakia pounded helpless San Marino 5-0 in the other game.
Sweden joined Spain as the two teams from Group F as the Swedes got a goal from Kim Kallstrom in the 57th minute to secure a 2-1 win over Latvia and the second spot in the group behind Spain, who beat Northern Ireland 1-0 on a goal from Hernandez Xavi. Denmark was knocked out of contention on Saturday, but the Danes ended their campaign on a positive note, beating Iceland 3-0. Romania finished up a successful qualifying campaign with a big 6-1 win over Albania. Nicolae Dica and Daniel Niculae both scored twice for Romania, who goes through as the top team in Group G. The Netherlands suffered a 2-1 loss to Belarus but they still go through as the second team, one point ahead of Bulgaria, who beat Slovenia 2-0.
| |
