LONDON, 18 October 2007 — England’s chances of reaching next year’s European Championship were hit yesterday when it lost 2-1 at Russia, and Portugal had a 2-1 win at Kazakhstan.
England was leading 1-0, a score that would have earned both England and Croatia spots at the tournament, when it conceded two second-half goals to substitute Roman Pavlyunchenko.
Croatia, which was idle yesterday, is still likely to win Group E and qualify. But Russia will now advance ahead of England if it wins its last two matches at Israel and Andorra.
Scotland’s chances appear slim after the Group B leader lost 2-0 at Georgia. France could move top of the standings when it hosted Lithuania later, and Scotland is likely to have to beat Italy in its final match next month to advance.
Portugal was scoreless at Kazakhstan with six minutes left, and facing a struggle to qualify, when Maritimo striker Ariza Makukula scored on debut with a header from Ricardo Quaresma’s right-wing cross.
Cristiano Ronaldo then made it 2-0 in injury time when he shot high into the net from a cross by Manchester United teammate Nani.
Dmitriy Byakov headed a late consolation for the home side, but Portugal’s victory lifted the 2004 runner-up to within a point of Group A leaders Poland with two games remaining.
Serbia are still in contention for a place in the tournament, moving above Finland into third place with a 6-1 win at last-place Azerbaijan.
England had looked set for a sixth straight qualifying win and sixth straight appearance at the European Championship when Wayne Rooney volleyed it into a 29th-minute lead on the artificial turf of Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Steven Gerrard missed an easy chance to make it 2-0 when he shot past the post without a defender near him. Referee Luis Madinah Cantalejo then awarded a 69th-minute penalty kick to Russia even though Rooney’s challenge on Konstantin Zyrianov was outside the area.
Pavlyunchenko hit his shot low to goalkeeper Paul Robinson’s right and then made it 2-1 four minutes later, getting to a rebound after Robinson had pushed away a shot by Aleksei Berezutski.
Scotland had topped Group B after a campaign that included home and away wins over France, but fell behind in Tbilisi in the 16th minute when Levan Mjedlidze headed in from a corner.
• In Copenhagen, Denmark beat Latvia 3-1 in a dour Group F qualifier that preserved their slim chances of progressing to next year’s tournament.
Jon Dahl Tomasson opened the score in the seventh minute, calmly converting a penalty after Kaspars Gorkss was harshly judged to have handled the ball in the box.
Ulrik Laursen redirected a Dennis Rommedahl corner kick with his knee into the net in the 27th minute, scoring his first goal for the national team in his second appearance.
• In Istanbul, European champions Greece qualified for next year’s tournament with a 1-0 away win over Turkey courtesy of a 79th-minute goal from Ioannis Amanatidis.
Striker Amanatidis fired past keeper Volkan Demirel after Georgios Samaras put him through clear on goal.
The win lifted Greece to 25 points in Group C, seven clear of Turkey with two games remaining. Norway are also in contention in the group.
• In Kiev, Ukraine breezed to a consolation 5-0 victory against the Faroe Islands in a Group B European championship qualifier yesterday.
Both sides were already out of the running for Euro 2008 but Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin said he thought his team should have scored more.
“I think that taking into account our performance, we should have scored more than five goals. The most important thing is that our players were willing to show their best and proved that we are still a team,” he said.
Dynamo Kiev’s Oleg Gusev and Spartak Moscow’s Maksym Kalynychenko both scored twice and Andriy Vorobey, replacing Gusev, sealed the victory by smashing a cross from Andriy Nesmachny into the back of the net in the 64th minute.
Qatar Beat Japan 2-1
in Olympic Qualifier
In Doha, Magdi Siddiq scored an injury-time penalty yesterday to give Qatar a 2-1 win over Japan in a qualifying match for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Japan midfielder Toshihiro Aoyama was penalized for hand ball in the Group C match, and Siddiq converted the spot kick.
Japan scored in the 43rd minute when defender Naoaki Aoyama kicked the ball into the top corner.
Qatar equalized in the 76th minute when substitute Hassan Al-Haydos flicked the ball with his heel from a corner into the net.
Qatar and Japan each have seven points. The other teams in the group are Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.
