The Republic of Ireland, Croatia and the Czech Republic all took giant strides toward qualifying for Euro 2012 on Friday, but Portugal were left with plenty of work to do after their stalemate in Bosnia.
In Tallinn, Ireland swept aside nine-man Estonia 4-0 to put themselves on the brink of their first European championships since 1988 and erase memories of last year’s painful World Cup playoff defeat to France.
Giovanni Trapattoni’s men mastered minnows Estonia in this playoff first leg with a double from inspirational skipper Robbie Keane after first half contributions from Keith Andrews and Jonathan Walters.
Photo: AFP
Estonia did not help their cause when Andrei Stepanov was red-carded for a foul on Keane in the 35th minute, with captain skipper Raio Piiroja following him off the pitch in the final quarter-hour.
“Full credit to all the players, to come here and win 4-0 is a great result,” Keane said. “I said yesterday there was a calmness in the camp — the confidence we have in the squad and the way we’ve played in the whole campaign we deserve to go through. It’s only the first leg, but we’re looking forward to the return leg now.”
With the return leg in Dublin on Tuesday, Ireland can start thinking about packing their bags to Ukraine and Poland.
Photo: Reuters
“We can’t take anything for granted, but if we don’t qualify now well be devastated,” Keane added.
Croatia are also firmly in the driving seat in their playoff against Turkey after an impressive 3-0 defeat in Istanbul.
Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka did the damage to give the Croats a priceless win away from home ahead of the second leg in Zagreb.
Croatia got off to the best possible start, racing into a two minute lead when Bayern Munich striker Olic tapped in Corluka’s cross from the left corner flag, with Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel found wanting.
It was Croatia’s fastest ever goal in Euro qualifying.
Croatia doubled their lead on an electric counterattack down the right.
Darijo Srna sent in a peach of a cross with Modric’s shot blocked. The ball found its way over the right flank again and Srna tried again, this time VfL Wolfsburg forward Mandzukic heading in by the far post.
In the 51th minute, Corluka compounded Turkey’s misery, escaping his marker to run onto Srna’s whipped free-kick to head home from 5m.
“Nobody can expect a score like this when you come to this fantastic stadium,” Croatia coach Slavan Bilic said. “It’s a fantastic result, it is a great day for us, but nothing is over.”
“Of course when you go 1-0 down in the second minute then Croatia are happy and they drew back with 10 men,” Turkey boss Guus Hiddink said. “We had a lot of possession but it was difficult to outplay Croatia. They are very strong and they know how to play final chance, but we didn’t have the power ... to outplay one and one, so we didn’t create the pressure, but we did create real real danger.”
In Prague, winger Vaclav Pilar and sweeper Tomas Sivok gave the Czech Republic a priceless 2-0 win over Montenegro.
“We’re only half way through ... we’re in for a terribly difficult game in Montenegro because they always gain a big advantage at home, their fans are a loud crowd,” Czech coach Michal Bilek said.
Euro 2004 finalists Portugal came away from their trip to Zenica with a goalless draw, with Bosnia-Hercegovina striker Vedad Ibisevic spurning two late chances to break the deadlock.
After a largely uninspiring performance, Portugal, who famously ended Bosnia’s hopes for last year’s World Cup with two 1-0 playoff wins, now face a nervy return leg in Lisbon next week.
Cristiano Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure, the Real Madrid star saying: “The pitch was catastrophic, which produced a result that we’re not satisfied with. I was expecting a win, but unfortunately we weren’t able to score. I expect certain victory in Lisbon. We are better than Bosnia and we’ll prove it on the return leg.”
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