Turkey remained unbeaten and untied in Euro '08 qualifying with a
stunning 4-1 victory over archrival Greece, the defending European
champion, in Athens on Saturday.
The Turks, who went into the game with 12 players injured or suspended,
recovered from an early deficit to crush Greece thanks to goals by Tuncay
Sanli, Gokhan Unal, Metin Tumer and Gokdeniz
Karadeniz. Turkey leads Greece by three points at the top of
Group C and is one of only two unbeaten and untied teams left in
qualifying along with idle Sweden in Group F.
In another clash between first-place teams, Germany took the lead in
Group D with a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic thanks to two goals
from Kevin Kuranyi.
Scotland and France, tied for first in Group B, needed late goals to
emerge victorious on Saturday. Craig
Beattie scored in the 89th minute to give the Scots a 2-1
victory over Georgia. Nicolas Anelka
scored for France 14 minutes from time to give the Bleus a 1-0 win at
Lithuania.
England's troubles continued as it was held to a 0-0 tie at Israel and
now trails Croatia and Russia, both winners on Saturday, by five and
three points, respectively, in Group E.
Portugal and Spain, on the other hand, moved back into contention with
wins on Saturday. Spain revived its hopes in Group F with a 2-1
victory over
Denmark thanks to goals by Valencia strikers Fernando Morientes and David Villa. The Danes played with
10 men after defender Niclas Jensen
was red-carded in the 19th minute. Portugal moved into third place in
Group A, ahead of Serbia, after crushing Belgium, 4-0. Cristiano Ronaldo continued his
sparkling form with two goals.
The biggest upset took place in Almaty, where Serbia was upset by
Kazakhstan, 2-1. It was Kazakhstan's first competitive win and the
first time it had
scored at home in a qualifier since joining UEFA in 2002.
EURO '08 QUALIFYING
Group A
Kazakhstan 2 (Ashirbekov 47,
Zhumaskaliyev 61) Serbia 1
(Zigic 68).
Poland 5 (Bak 2, Dudka 5,
Lobodzinski 33, Krzynowek 58, Kazmierczak 83)
Azerbaijan 0.
Portugal 4 (Nuno Gomes 52,
Cristiano Ronaldo 54, 75, Quaresma 68)
Belgium 0.
Group B
Scotland 2 (Boyd 11, Beattie
89) Georgia 1 (Arveladze 41).
Faeroe Islands 0 Ukraine 2
(Yezerskiy 21, Gusev 58).
Lithuania 0 France 1 (Anelka
74).
Group C
Moldova 1 (Epureanu 82) Malta 1 (Mallia 75).
Norway 1 (Carew pen. 49) Bosnia-Herzegovina 2 (Misimovic 17,
Muslimovic
33).
Greece 1 (Kyrgiakos 5) Turkey 4 (Tuncay 26, Gokhan 55,
Metin 70,
Gokdeniz 81).
Group D
Cyprus 1 (Aloneftis 45) Slovakia 3 (Vittek 54, Skrtel 67,
Jakubko 77).
Czech Republic 1 (Baros 76) Germany 2 (Kuranyi 42, 62).
Ireland 1 (Ireland 39) Wales 0.
Group E
Croatia 2 (Srna 58, da Silva
88) Macedonia 1 (Sedloski 36).
Estonia 0 Russia 2 (Kerzhakov
66, 78).
Israel 0 England 0.
Group F
Liechtenstein 1 (Burgmeier 90) Northern Ireland 4 (Healy 52, 75,
83, McCann 90).
Spain 2 (Morientes 34, David
Villa 45) Denmark 1 (Gravgaard
48).
Group G
Albania 0 Slovenia 0.
Netherlands 0 Romania 0.
Luxembourg 1 (Sagrahola 68) Belarus 2 (Kalachev 25, Kutuzov 54).



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