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Turkey to face Croatia in playoff
The Turkish side finished the group A on second position having Germany as leader with 30 points in ten games. Had Belgium won the game against Germany away, they would have grabbed the second position. Turkey finished the preliminaries just two points atop of Belgium whom they had defeated in the first day and drawn in the second leg.
Their next opponents are Croatia who also had a tough group F which provided the former European champions Greece as leader. They finished the just two points behind the leader who beat Croatia 2-0 in the second leg. Greece edged Georgia in the last this Tuesday and were very close to losing the leading position to Croatia. The first leg will take place on November 11 and the second one on November 15.
Said Turkey assistant coach Oguz Cetin: “Croatia is an opponent we know well. They are a very strong team, and have shown a great performance during the group stage. We have similar styles of football to Croatia.”
Portugal and Bosnia Herzegovina are also expected to provide a tight clash after Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. lost the leading position in group H due to a clear loss against winners Denmark who beat the favorites 2-1 in the last match on Tuesday.
Portugal suffered two defeats during the preliminaries and only won five games out of eight played, compared to Denmark who grabbed six wins, a draw and a loss. Even more than that, Portugal were also very close to losing the second position as Norway gathered the same number of points as them, 16. Agostinho Oliverira’s side made a poor start, drawing minnow Cyprus 4-4 in the first game, something which cost the Portuguese side two precious points.
Bosnia’s coach declared that Portugal are the side he feared the most to confront. “We are a bit disappointed because Portugal are the one team we wanted to avoid, but we are up for it.” By contrast, defender Darko Maletic hopes his team mates will stay confident although they will meet perhaps the best second-placed side.
“I have a lot of faith in my team mates and we expect to avenge the defeat by Portugal in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers,” he said. Bosnia picked the second position in group D thanks to six wins and two draws which propelled them six points atop of favorite Romania who finished third. In the last match, Bosnia drew leaders France on Stade de France and have become a real threat for Portugal.
Former European finalists Czech Republic will fight stubborn Montenegro for a Euro 2012 spot. Anyway, the Czechs had started the preliminaries as second favorite, given Spain’s incontestable status. But Michal Bilek’s side were forced to fight hard for their second position as Scotland managed to stay behind them almost throughout the entire preliminaries.
The Scotts finished just two points behind the Czechs whom they drew in the second leg. Their next opponents Montenegro also finished the group G on second position, behind favorites England who won the group with 18 points, six atop of their main followers. Switzerland were third, just one point behind Montenegro whom they defeated 2-0 in the last game on Tuesday.
Finally, Estonia and Republic of Ireland are the last to fight for a place at the Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland. Estonia was also one of the biggest surprises of the preliminaries, given the fact that Serbia and Slovenia were part of the same group C which Italy won with ease.
Estonia managed to win five games and draw one, including a 3-1 success over Serbia away. They gathered 16 points, one more than the Serbs who are no longer a big threat. Their next opponents Republic of Ireland finished the group B second, just two points behind leaders Russia and four ahead of their main followers Armenia. The Irish side picked six wins and three draws, losing just one game to the Russians at home.
Although they finished the group E on second position, Sweden have directly qualified for the Euro 2012 thanks to the 24 points picked throughout the preliminaries, performance which neither of the other second placed sides set.
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