Euro 2008 Round-Up

This week saw a break from the Premier League campaign as Euro 2008 qualifying reached the business end, providing satisfying results for both England and the Scots. Republic of Ireland’s chances now looked doomed though as they only managed to draw with Germany 0-0 at Croke Park, while Wales were less than majestic, slumping to a 3-1 defeat to Cyprus.

So, after much debate and over-inflated media attention, Michael Owen did in fact play on Saturday in England’s 3-0 victory over Estonia. As a precaution Steve McClaren took the injury-prone striker off after 70 minutes and I’m sure Owen will have been gutted not to have scored against Mart Poom and his merry men. There is more than a sneaking suspicion that Owen, with the not too distant scent of glory and the all-time England scoring record in the offing, insisted he play in the expectation that he would be closer to owning this record by full-time. He played well enough though, stitches and all, and looked a sharp threat, which he will have to be on Wednesday against Russia. England’s next game in Russia has shaped up to be the most important game for the side in recent times and qualification hinges on their success in Moscow. Matters have not been helped by the confirmation that the game will be played on an artificial, plastic pitch. Although meeting UEFA standards, these plastic pitches are notorious for aggravating injuries (the ever constant thorn in England’s efforts); the bounce of the ball is also very different and unnatural and if fallen on produces nasty cuts. In particular there are fears for Paul Robinson, who describes the fixtures as, ‘a learning experience for us all’. The goalkeeper is short of confidence and has not been put under pressure in England’s last few games which would have helped get it back. Club form has been erratic and the skidding, bouncing surface is a real cause for concern for the English defence, while it will greatly encourage speculative efforts from the Russians. It felt to the wise mind of Joe Cole to put the worries of the artificial pitch into perspective, ‘For me, the ball is going to be round and it’s leather, so there’s no excuses really.’ Quite right Joe, well said.

There is a current renaissance in Scottish football right now, with James McFadden as the poster boy to the nations long lost appetite for international qualification. Following Saturday’s impressive 3-1 win over Ukraine Scotland lead a group containing the two World Cup 2006 finalists Italy and France, and need just 4 points to secure their passage to Euro 2008. McFadden scored his 13th goal for Scotland on Saturday, which manager Alex McLeish called ‘a belter’ and has produced a string of match-winning performances in the qualifiers so far. Allied to McFadden’s input it has been, in typically Scottish style, the ingredients of dogged tenacity and a ‘never say die’ attitude that have combined to grind out unexpected results and garner renewed optimism for an appearance in a first international competition since World Cup 1998. However, despite an impressive points haul Scotland must win in Tbilisi, Georgia on Wednesday and also need to get something out of a home tie with Italy, or rely on France not gaining maximum points from their last two fixtures (Lithuania & Ukraine). It has been a valiant effort nonetheless and Scottish fans will take heart from their team’s efforts in a very tough group.

A resilient attempt to qualify fell flat for Republic of Ireland in Group D as they could only draw 0-0 with Germany, all but ending their chances of going through from the group. And there were chances on offer too in this game, notably Robbie Keane spurning the best of them as, when one-on-one with Jens Lehmann he gave up on converting the goal as he thought he was offside. The result was little more than a chipped shot into the German’s hands, when he could easily have won the match for the Republic. A draw was good enough to seal qualification for the Germans, although Lehmann’s club and country future is less certain after national coach Joachim Low insisted he start for Arsenal or switch clubs if he wanted to retain his place. For Jens Lehmann, he can no longer hide behind the excuse that he is not playing club football because of injury and sent out a message to the Arsenal manager, ‘I am fully fit and I expect to be back against Bolton. Wenger has not told me anything but I am here now and I expect him to play me, so no worries.’ It will be interesting to see how such unabashed arrogance goes down with the Arsenal manager, especially following several high-profile Lehmann errors in the Premiership and the consistent good form of understudy Manuel Almunia.

Still suffering from the repercussions of ‘Grannygate’, reported to you on these pages some weeks ago, Manchester City and Ireland midfielder Stephen Ireland withdrew from the squad to play Germany and Cyprus citing a psychological battle. During the last round of international fixtures Ireland had first withdrawn from the squad because of the death of his grandmother, however this was found to be untrue as she was alive and well. Ireland proceeded to change his story several times, falsely proclaiming the deaths of his other grandmother and an ex-partner of his granddads - eventually Ireland revealed he had wanted to travel home to be with his girlfriend. The Republic also lost the game Ireland missed 1-0, seriously damaging their hopes of going through from the group. He was granted permission to be omitted this time though, and his reasoning was this time considered as genuine by the national manager Steve Staunton, ‘We know that Stephen has got problems and at this moment in time he’s not mentally ready or prepared to play for his country.’ A word of warning to Mr. Ireland though, is careful what you wish for as you may soon end up with more time off than you’d like.

Home nations’ results and fixtures…

Cyprus 3-1 Wales
Okkas 59, 68 Collins 21
Charalampidis 79

England 3-0 Estonia
Wright-Phillips 11
Rooney 32
Rahn 33 o.g.

Rep. of Ireland 0-0 Germany

Scotland 3-1 Ukraine
Miller 4 Shevchenko 24
McCulloch 10
McFadden 68

Wednesday 17th October
Georgia vs. Scotland
Rep. of Ireland vs. Cyprus
Russia vs. England
San Marino vs. Wales
Sweden vs. Northern Ireland