LONDON, 7 September 2003 — Iceland pulled off the major shock of the day when they held mighty Germany to a 0-0 draw yesterday to stay top of their Euro 2004 qualifying group - for four more days at least.
With Scotland beating the Faroe Islands 3-1 in the same group earlier, Iceland lead the Group Five standings with 13 points, followed by Germany on 12 and Scotland with 11. However, Germany are still favorites to qualify automatically with two home matches to play against Scotland on Wednesday and Iceland next month.
Coach Rudi Voeller hit out over criticism by TV media after Iceland held Germany. Voeller told ARD German TV: “It was naturally not enough today. We didn’t have enough movement. We have to work harder. We’re not scoring enough goals, but it’s a load of crap the way we’re being criticized by the (German television) commentators here.”
There were few other surprises across Europe in the 20 qualifiers played with almost all the bigger countries scoring much-needed victories to keep next summer’s finals in Portugal in their sights.
England skipper David Beckham was on target with a 63rd minute penalty to give his side a hard-fought 2-1 win in their Group Seven match in Macedonia — their seventh successive victory to equal a post-war record.
Earlier, Wayne Rooney equalized a first-half Macedonia goal to become England’s youngest scorer in a senior international at the age of 17 years 317 days.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson expressed his pride in his England team after they came back to beat Macedonia. “It was a good game. I said for the past five days ‘pay a lot of attention to Macedonia because they have a good team’ and I think they showed that today,” Eriksson told a news conference.
“I didn’t think we did that bad in the first half, even if we were 1-0 down. But I’m very proud of my players as, once again, they showed they can come back from a goal down away from home and win the game.”
With Turkey winning 3-0 in Liechtenstein, and England expected to beat Liechtenstein easily in Manchester on Wednesday, England will most likely only need a point from their visit to Turkey next month to qualify.
Greece moved closer to qualifying for the finals for the first time since 1980 when they won 1-0 in Armenia thanks to a first-half goal from Zisis Vryzas.
Greece, the real surprise in Group Six, only need to beat Northern Ireland, as expected, at home on Oct. 11 to make certain of their place. The Irish failed to score for the 11th successive match - equaling the worst-ever run by a European country set by Liechtenstein between 2000 and 2002 — but their 0-0 draw in Donetsk severely dented Ukraine’s chances of reaching the playoffs. If Spain beat Ukraine at home on Wednesday then Greece and Spain will take the top two places.
Sweden and Bulgaria also kept next summer’s finals firmly in view with straightforward wins. Sweden crushed San Marino 5-0 in a one-sided Group Four match in Gothenburg to consolidate their position at the top of the standings, while Bulgaria beat Estonia 2-0 in Sofia to keep their one point lead over Croatia in Group Eight.
Croatia earlier won 3-0 in Andorra and with two matches to play, including the probable group decider in Zagreb next month, Bulgaria have 14 points and Croatia 13.
One team that failed to capitalize on home advantage were Ireland, whose hopes were knocked when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Russia in Dublin. Ireland took the lead when Damien Duff, Chelsea’s 17 million pounds ($26.70 million) signing from Blackburn Rovers, scored with a superb long-range shot, but they dropped two vital points after Sergei Ignashevich scored three minutes before the break.
That left Switzerland top of Group 10 with 12 points from six matches, with Ireland now on 11 with only their final match against Switzerland in October to play. Russia have eight points from six games. Russia, though could still qualify directly if they win their last two matches at home against Switzerland on Wednesday and Georgia on Oct. 11 and Switzerland and Ireland draw their final match on the same night.
Zlatko Zahovic set up all his team’s goals as Slovenia kept themselves in the race for a playoff spot with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Israel in their Group One match yesterday. The victory means Slovenia have strengthened their hold on second place with 13 points from six games, five points clear of Israel - who had two players sent off in the last five minutes as tempers flared - with two games to play. Slovenia entertain group leaders France on Wednesday when Israel, who face the almost impossible task of winning both their remaining matches and hoping Slovenia lose theirs to clinch a playoff spot, face bottom team Malta.
