Euro 2008 Results and Other News...

Due to the U.S. v. Guatemala game tonight, I have to push the Team America Spotlight of the Week back a day or so. When it does happen, it will be the first installment of my MLS 2007 Regular Season Preview.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

Check the standings here.

Andorra 0, England 3

Gridlocked with zeroes at halftime, England clearly looked to score but held off to ensure maximum dramatic impact. David Nugent, the Preston North End star and only Championship team member on the roster, bagged his first goal. The real stud, however, was Steven Gerrard and his rage with the fact that England was tied with Andorra at any point. McClaren is safe for now, but in all honesty, there are still 6 games or so left.


Ireland 1, Wales 0

Ireland's second win in a row was against yet another quality opponent in Slovakia. Reading star Kevin Doyle tallied for the Irishmen. These favorable results are stacking up and could result in a well-deserved Euro 2008 bid.



Northern Ireland 2, Sweden 1

A shocker. Maybe not as big as England losing to Northern Ireland and without the political impact, but nevertheless, extremely unexpected. The Northern Irish went down 1-0 with Johan Elmander's strike, but fought back with real bite. David Healy was the hero with both strikes (deja vu anyone?)



Liechtenstein 1, Latvia 0

Yep. That's right. Mario Frick got the goal (Leichtenstein's all-time leading scorer) and probably catapulted up (no more than 10 spots really) the FIFA World Rankings. Damages Latvia's hopes undoubtedly.


Italy 2, Scotland 0

Luca Toni regained his international form and rained on Scotland's parade. Toni scored both goals and dominated a shaky Scottish back-line.


Norway 2, Turkey 2

Thomas Myhre, you suck. Two goals, 200% fault. 2 for 2 on fuck-ups. Norway still won in my mind. What irks me the most is that Myhre is no slouch, a long time quality English Premiership GK with Charlton Athletic. What was going through his head? When I find the botched saves I will put up the link. Hamit Altintop was the Turkish player who had the last laugh.

Slovenia 0, Netherlands 1

The Orange needed a late 86th minute strike from Barcelona's and hopefully a MLS target, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst to beat a feisty Slovenia. The win puts the Dtch back on top of their group.

Many other scores are here.

Bulgaria 0, Albania 0

A dogfight for Albania. A sheer shame for the Bulgarians and hitman Dimitar Berbatov. Nineteen shots could not yield one single goal.

Azerbaijan 1, Finland 0

Yikes. Another upset but this one (if you saw the game) didn't even seem like one. The Finns were well...dominated. It would have been an unwarranted tie for Finland. Thankfully, Emin Imamiliev scored in the 83rd minute to put the icing on the cake. What made this even better? The Finns were unbeaten in Euro qualifying so far. If anyone has footage of the Azerbaijani celebration, please e-mail me because I heard it was riotous. Rightfully so.

International Friendlies

Germany 0, Denmark 1

Germany was surprised by the young Danish striker Niclas Bendtner who scored a goal 10 minutes from time. For Denmark this takes a little bit off the sting for the Danes who lost to Spain 2-1 this past weekend. Germany fielded a A- or B team with Kevin Kuranyi the only real international star in their line-up.



France 1, Austria 0

Olympique Lyonnais youth product and future star Karim Benzema scored in his international debut. He has a propensity for strong starts/debuts. You will most definitely see this kid for some time. The real man of the match though was Marseille attacking midfielder Samir Nasri. The French have some real nasty kids comin' up through the ranks soon.


***I only covered the somewhat 'shocking' results***

OTHER NEWS in 5 Bullet Points:

- Mia Hamm had twins. Many didn't even know she was pregnant. Thanks to Emily for sending me that info.

- American/Canadian businessmen Gillett and Hicks' takeover of Liverpool is finally complete.

- Reading received great news. Striker Dave Kitson signed back on for three more years and said it was only because Steve Coppell, current Reading manager, is coming back too.

- Tony Meola hates Bruce Arena. Or is mad he is not playing. One of the two. Here's the story.

- Here is a list of the top 25 hottest pieces of transfer speculation to hit world soccer in the past month. Compliments of FootballTransfers.net.

***I am not happy with Eddie Johnson***