International Football October 2011

Wayne Rooney sent off in Montenegro

England party in Podgorica

Montenegro 2 England 2 (Podgorica Euro qualifier 7 October 2011)
A 2-2 draw in Montenegro saw both sets of supporters party as England qualified for Euro 2012 and the hosts reached the play-offs. England took the lead 10 minutes into the game when Walcott delivered a delicious cross for Ashley Young to head in from close range, and it looked like curtains for Montenegro in the 31st minute as England capitalised on their dominance with Young running through and passing the ball for a Darren Bent tap-in, but on the stroke of half time the ball was crossed onto the chest of Zverotic who beat Hart with a half volley to give the crowd something to cheer about at the break. Rooney saw red in the 73rd minute for kicking out at an opponent, and as the match reached stoppage time Delibasic headed a tantalising cross over the line at the back post to complete Montenegro's comeback and spark scenes of joy in the Montenegrin capital.

In other European qualifiers one goal at home to Moldova was enough for the Dutch to secure qualification and Sweden cemented second spot in group E with a 2-1 win in Finland. A 3-1 Turkish home defeat to group A winners Germany gave Belgium hope after their 4-1 home victory against Kazakhstan while in group B Russia look favourites to qualify after eliminating hosts Slovakia 1-0 and 2 goals in Andorra kept the Irish Republic on course, ahead of Armenia who slammed Macedonia 4-1 in Yerevan. As Italy drew 1-1 in Serbia, Estonia took a step closer to a historic play-off place with a 2-1 triumph in Northern Ireland. France remain top of group D after their 3-0 home win over Albania and on Tuesday will meet Bosnia & Herzegovina, who thumped Luxembourg 5-0, for a place in the finals while in the same group already eliminated Romania were held to a 2-2 home draw by Belarus. Greece took a huge step towards the finals with a 2-0 victory at home to Croatia and Latvia beat Malta by the same scoreline while it was a double for Wales in Cardiff that sank the Swiss the allow Montenegro into the play-offs. Denmark and Portugal will be battling it out in Copenhagen for automatic qualification after the Danes sailed to a 4-1 win in Cyprus and Portugal ran out 5-3 winners at home to Iceland while in group I Scotland kept their hopes alive with a single goal in Liechtenstein and Spain kept up their perfect record wining 2-0 away to the Czech Republic.
In World Cup qualifiers Higuain scored a hat-trick as Argentina brushed Chile aside 4-1 and Guerrero scored both goals as Peru sent Paraguay packing while a double for Diego Lugano saw South American champions Uruguay overcome Bolivia 4-2 in Montevideo. Among matches in the CONCACAF section Canada and Haiti scored 7 without reply away to Saint Lucia and the US Virgin Islands respectively while Trinidad & Tobago lost 2-1 in Bermuda and Grenada triumphed 4-1 in Belize.
In qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa were held to a goalless draw by Sierra Leone and Guinea earned a 2-2 draw in Nigeria while Zimbabwe lost 2-1 in Cape Verde and Togo fell to a double in Tunisia.

In midweek
The European group matches were completed. Turkey claimed a play spot from group A with a 1-0 win in Azerbaijan as Austria drew 0-0 in Kazakhstan and Belgium were beaten 3-1 in Germany. Russia secured qualification with 6 goals at home to Andorra while the Republic of Ireland reached the play-offs ahead of Armenia whom they defeated 2-1 in Dublin and the meaningless match between Macedonia and Slovakia ended in a 1-1 draw. Estonia celebrated after losing a home friendly 2-0 to Ukraine as Serbia's 1-0 defeat in Slovenia gave the Baltic country a place in the play-offs behind Italy who ended Northern Ireland's campaign with a 3-0 away defeat. A 1-1 draw between the top teams in group D was enough to see France qualify automatically and condemn Bosnia and Herzegovina to the play-offs while Albania and Romania also shared 2 goals. In an exciting match in Sweden the hosts qualified as best 2nd team by beating group D winners the Netherland 3-2 while Moldova put 4 past San Marino and Hungary drew blanks at home to Finland. Greece secured qualification with a 2-1 win in Georgia while Croatia had to settle for the play-offs after winning 2-0 at home to Latvia while Israel's 2-0 win in Malta was too late. Wales ended on a high with a 1-0 win in Bulgaria but failed in the quest to finish 3rd as Switzerland claimed that position with a 2-0 win over their visitors from Montenegro. Denmark celebrated a 2-1 win over Portugal in a top-of-the-table clash in Copenhagen while Norway's 3-1 win in Cyprus was not enough to deny the Portuguese a play-off spot on goal difference. There was no silver lining for Scotland as a double from David Silver in Spain gave the world champions a 3-1 win while the Czech Republic make sure of a play-off place with a comprehensive 4-1 victory in Lithuania.
In World Cup qualifiers Chile defeated Peru 4-2 and Colombia won 2-1 in Bolivia while Uruguay drew 1-1 in Paraguay and Argentina were beaten 1-0 in Venezuela. China lost by a single goal at home to Iraq and North Korea suffered the same fate against Uzbekistan while Kuwait shared 4 goals with their Lebanese hosts and Saudi Arabia played a goalless match in Thailand. South Korea picked up 3 points in their 2-1 home win over the U.A.E. and Qatar got the better of Indonesia 3-2 in Jakarta while Oman went 3-0 down to Australia and Jordan won by the same result in Singapore, but it was Japan and Iran who had their shooting boots on in Asia as Japan trounced their visitors from Tajikistan 8-0 and Iran buried 10 man Bahrain 6-0 in Tehran. Canada were held to a goalless draw at home to Puerto Rico and Panama hammered Nicaragua 5-1 while the U.S. Virgin Islands were humiliated 10-0 away to Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados lost 4-0 at Trinidad & Tobago.

Among friendly matches the U.S.A. lost 1-0 at home to Ecuador and Mexico were beaten 2-1 at home to Brazil.

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