ISTANBUL, 12 October 2003 — Skipper David Beckham missed a first-half penalty but England still reached the finals of Euro 2004 yesterday after drawing 0-0 with Turkey to win Group Seven.
England, who had gone into the game just three days after avoiding an unprecedented player boycott, got the draw which they needed to qualify and send Turkey into the playoffs before a passionate pro-Turkey crowd. England also missed a string of scoring chances, including the 37th minute spot-kick ballooned into the crowd by Beckham, who lost his footing as he struck the ball.
The England skipper also found the net with a late header that was ruled offside.
Turkey, beaten 2-0 by England at Sunderland in April in a qualifier marred by crowd trouble, fell well short of the fluid attacking form which took them to the World Cup semifinals.
England had no vocal support inside the ground, with the FA having refused its ticket allocation and urged fans to stay away, amid fears for crowd safety and a potential exclusion from the tournament by UEFA.
Yet the visitors, missing injured striker Michael Owen and defender Rio Ferdinand who was dropped from the squad for failing to take a drugs test, settled more quickly than their hosts, whose big-match nerves showed in a series of mis-directed passes.
Beckham, who had converted a pressure penalty at the 2002 World Cup to beat Argentina 1-0, this time slipped as he skied the ball high into the upper tier of the stands. Alpay Ozalan was quick to taunt the England skipper and also poked him in the face as the two men walked off at the break.
In London, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Greece all booked their places in next year’s European championship finals in early action on the last day of the qualifying competition.
At the same time, Scotland, Russia, Norway, Spain and Latvia reached the playoffs and will be in the hat for the draw for the two-legged ties to be made in Frankfurt on Monday. With nine of the finalists known — hosts Portugal, champions France, Sweden, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic had already claimed their places — another two nations were looking to secure their places later from Groups Seven and Nine.
Germany saved their best performance for their last qualifier with a 3-0 win over Iceland in Hamburg to break the hearts of the visitors who led the group last month.
The defeat, together with Scotland’s 1-0 win over Lithuania in Glasgow, meant Iceland slipped down to third place in Group Five and out of contention. They have still never reached the finals of either the World Cup or European championship after being so close at one stage.
Germany won with goals from Michael Ballack (90), Fredi Bobic (59) and Kevin Kuranyi (79) to clinch first place in Group Five on 18 points. Scotland made sure they finished second behind the Germans with a 70th-minute goal from substitute Darren Fletcher which killed off Lithuania’s resistance at Hampden Park. Scotland finished on 14 points, one clear of Iceland.
Switzerland, the co-hosts of the 2008 finals with Austria, made sure they will also be at the 2004 party by rolling over Ireland 2-0 in Basel.
Goals from Hakin Yakin after six minutes and Alexander Frei after 60 gave Switzerland victory in a tight group with Russia taking second place after their 3-1 come-from-behind win over Georgia in Moscow.
Switzerland won Group 10 with 15 points, followed by Russia on 14 with Ireland third on 11. Denmark won Group Two after a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Bosnia in Sarajevo but they finished with 10 men after a late red card for Thomas Gravesen. But a 12th-minute goal from Martin Joergensen set Denmark on their way and even though Elvir Bolic equalized before the break the Danes did enough to hold on for victory.
Norway did not cover themselves in glory with a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in Oslo but a first-half goal from Tore Andre Flo was enough to give them a place in the playoffs.
Greece also secured their place in the finals with a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland who completed their campaign without scoring a goal.
The Greek goal came from a 69th-minute penalty from Vassilis Tsartas which resulted in a red card for George McCartney who hauled down Zisis Vryzas. The Irish have now gone 13 matches without a goal.
Spain finished second after a 4-0 win over Armenia in Yerevan. Latvia also go into the playoffs after a shock 1-0 win over already-qualified Sweden in Group Four despite finishing with 10 men after having defender Dzintars Zirnis sent off 17 minutes from time.
In Limassol, Cyprus, injury-hit Cyprus battled back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Slovenia in their Group One Euro 2004 qualifier.
The result was largely academic as the Slovenes and group winners France had wrapped matters up well before Saturday’s game. Slovenia go the playoffs but the Cypriots, fourth in the group, can take pride from their fightback. Ermin Siljak headed Slovenia in front in the 12th minute and made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute after a goalmouth scramble. The pace picked up in the second half and Cyprus’ Stavros Georgiou rounded goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic to score on 74 minutes. Yiasemis Yiasemakis equalized in the 84th minute with a shot from outside the area.
Slovenia end their group campaign on 14 points, six clear of Cyprus.
