Thursday, October 6, 2011

England requires a point to qualify for Euro 2012


LONDON, Four years after losing its final qualifier to miss out on the European Championship, England will look to make amends by collecting at least the point it needs against Montenegro to reach the 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine. A draw against Croatia at Wembley would have been enough for...
England to progress to Euro 2008 but it lost 3-2, eliminating the team and costing beleaguered manager Steve McClaren his job. If Montenegro beats England in Podgorica and follows that up with a victory over Switzerland on Tuesday, the Balkan nation would finish top of Group G and force England into a two-legged playoff.“What it boils down to is that it’s in our own hands going into the last game,” England midfielder James Milner said. “That’s all you can ask for really. They’ll have to come out because they need to win the game which I think will help us.”

Montenegro is unlikely to be intimidated by England’s stars after holding Fabio Capello’s side to a 0-0 draw at Wembley in qualifying last year. “It will not be an easy game because the atmosphere, the fans, everything, will be really bad,” said Capello, who left experienced players Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard out of his squad for the match. “It will be noisy and intense.” Switzerland is still in contention to finish second, trailing Montenegro by three points ahead of its trip to Wales.

The world champions visit Czech Republic, who are fighting for second place with Scotland, and Fernando Torres will hope for a return to the starting lineup after showing improved form for Chelsea in recent weeks.
His last goals for Spain came on Sept. 3 last year, when he scored twice in a 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, but coach Vicente Del Bosque overlooked the striker during the 6-0 rout of Liechtenstein last month. “We still believe in him but there are others that are pressing hard for their shot,” Del Bosque said. Both Germany and the Netherlands have each won all eight of their qualifiers so far.

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