Published : Nov. 16, 2011 - 19:36
Ireland, Portugal, Croatia and the Czech Republic clinched European Championship berths on Tuesday night to complete the 16-nation field for next year’s tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
Knocked out of World Cup qualifying two years ago by France with the help of Thierry Henry’s hand ball, Ireland tied visiting Estonia 1-1 to win the home-and-home playoff on 5-1 aggregate and qualify for its first major tournament in a decade.
“This has been a long time in coming,” Irish goalkeeper Shay Given said as he blew kisses to the crowd in Dublin still wearing his bulky goalkeepers’ gloves.
Stephen Ward scored in the 31st minute for the Irish, who were eliminated in their 2009 World Cup playoff against the French when Henry batted the ball to William Gallas for an overtime goal, and referee Martin Hansson missed the infraction.
Portugal’s Miguel Veloso (right) scores on a penalty kick against Bosnia. (AP-Yonhap News)
“We deserved also to qualify in Paris,” Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni said. “But in this second tournament, this time, we showed the Irish people that we have built a very fantastic team.”
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to lead Portugal to a 6-2 victory at home over Bosnia-Herzegovina following a 0-0 first leg. Helder Postiga also had two goals, and Nani and Miguel Veloso scored for Portugal, which broke away with three goals in the final 20 minutes.
Croatia thwarted Turkey’s comeback hopes with a 0-0 draw in Zagreb that secured a 3-0 aggregate win, and the Czech Republic won 1-0 at Montenegro on Petr Jiracek’s 81st-minute goal for a 3-0 aggregate win.
The four playoffs winners joined the co-hosts in next year’s tournament along with Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden. The draw is Dec. 2.
In South American qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, Argentina rallied in the second half for a 2-1 win at Colombia as Lionel Messi scored his 18th goal in 65 international appearances and substitute Sergio Aguero broke an 85th-minute tie.
The United States won in Europe for the first time since March 2008, a 3-2 exhibition victory at Slovenia. Edson Buddle, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored first-half goals to give the Americans’ second win in seven games under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
In another exhibition, Miroslav Klose scored his 63rd international goal in the 26th and minute and set up goals by Thomas Mueller in the 15th and Mesut Oezil in the 66th to lead Germany over the visiting Netherlands 3-0.
England defeated Sweden 1-0 at Wembley to finish its first unbeaten year since 1994 at 6-0-3. Gareth Barry was initially credited with scoring England’s landmark goal in the 22nd minute, but replays showed the midfielder’s header from Stewart Downing’s cross skimmed off Swedish defender Daniel Majstorovic’s head before crossing the line. England had not beaten the Swedes in 43 years.
World and European champion Spain rallied for a 2-2 tie at Costa Rica as goalkeeper Iker Casillas made his 127th international appearance, breaking a tie with Andoni Zubizarreta. Coming off a 1-0 loss at England last weekend, Spain rallied on goals by David Silva in the 83rd minute and David Villas in injury time, Villa’s 51st international goal. Randall Brenes and Joel Campbell scored in the first half for Costa Rica.
Uruguay beat Italy 1-0 in Rome as Sebastian Fernandez scored in the third minute, and Belgium played a 0-0 draw at France. (AP)