France without Zidane is better than Italy without Materazzi

Rematch in Saint Denis

The remake of the World Cup finals turned out to be not so intense, but more spectacular: at this stage of the qualifying tournament, the price of error was less, and the desire of the French to win was obviously stronger than that of the rivals. Moreover, the signboard resemblance to the main match of the year was not limited. Again there was a quick and wrong goal of the French: then - from the invented penalty, now - from the “offside”. There was also a crushing header: Sidney Govu hit the gate and at the same time turned Fabio Cannavaro out of the game for several minutes. In the absence of the main characters of the finale, it became clear: France without Zidane looks better than Italy without Materazzi, which was hard to predict in advance. The main result of the mast, taking into account the satisfied ambitions of the French, comes down to coaching. Raymond Domenech made sure that his team can defeat not only Georgians, but also the most serious rivals. Roberto Donadoni, on the contrary, has not yet learned to cope even with outsiders. The next match of the world champions is another German deja vu: Ukrainians will come to visit “Squadra Azzurra”, and the Italians can’t stumble in this match.

Anniversary of the Spaniards spoiled by David Healy's hat trick

Having easily defeated Liechtenstein, the Spaniards were about to continue the march in Belfast. Circumstances at first helped: the British goalkeeper Roy Carroll pulled the muscle already in the 12th minute - and after two more, Mike Taylor, who replaced him, pulled the ball out of the net. It was the 1000th goal of the Spanish team. However, the Northern Irish had their own holiday for this day - and it turned out to be more important. The first hat-trick of the home team over the past 15 years was made by the forward of the once great Leeds David Healy. Moreover, he scored the winning goal from the transfer of goalkeeper Taylor who had mastered the same to the field! Classic British scenario: perseverance and dedication prevail over mastery. The winners effectively apologized to the fans for the home rout from the Icelanders, and Luis Aragones was puzzled before his most important visit to Sweden.

Volitional victory of the team Oleg Blokhin

The previous meeting of these rivals ended in a draw and brought the Ukrainians an early exit to the final stage of the 2006 World Cup. At the start of the current Euro-selection, they made it clear that they intend to follow the same course. After the goal of Andriy Shevchenko, the hosts unexpectedly conceded two goals, but managed to squeeze the Georgian team. The winner of the honorary prize (a pig weighing 260 kg) for the first goal of Ukrainians at the World Cup, Andrei Rusol, probably earned some kind of award, and this time - his appearance in the penalty box of Georgians ten minutes before the final whistle turned into a victorious header. The wards of Klaus Topmeeller have already suffered two defeats in a row, and the next match - against Italians - will be for them almost the last chance to prove claims for at least second place in the group.

Bundesmannschaft record volley

After Saturday's qualifiers, Arsene Wenger said 80 percent of the games were frankly boring. It seems that Joachim Lev’s team took it on their own account: four days ago, the Germans defeated the Irish with minimal advantage, but now they have arranged a demonstrative beating of infants. The best young player in the World Cup, Lukas Podolski, made poker, and the team exceeded the record for European Championships. Prior to this, the peak of productivity was the result of a long-standing match Spain - Malta (12: 1), but they said that back then there were some backstage intrigues. The new achievement is beyond suspicion - the Germans simply did not allow themselves to relax for a minute.

Finns starting agility

After the guest victory over the Poles, reached thanks to the enchanting game of veteran Jari Litmanen, the Finns took the favorites of group “A” and again were close to winning, opening an account in the 22nd minute. The Portuguese won back just before the break, and soon after he remained in the minority because of the second card to Ricardo Costa. However, after the removal, the game was equal - so a draw with the fourth team in the world can be counted as a success for the Finns. Now the northerners care about 9 points in the next three matches, where Kazakhstan and twice Armenia will be rivals. The task is quite feasible - in which case coach Roy Hodgson will not spare a strong British word in order to explain that it is impossible to relax even in such matches: after all, competitors will have much more serious meetings.

Scots at the head of group "B"

For the modest Scottish football today, to be, even if not for long, the leader of a group with three quarter-finalists of the World Cup is a serious achievement. The British drove to Kaunas in a good mood - in the previous match the Faroese were defeated, and the Baltic rival seemed too tough. Moreover, people are not strangers: the Lithuanian diaspora of 7 people has settled in the Scottish Harts club. Meanwhile, the hosts were not going to rest on their laurels with an away draw with the world champions - and they beat the British three times as many. However, only the acrobatic sketch performed by Daryus Mitsiki was accurate - with scissors through himself five minutes before the last whistle. But by that time, Walter Smith's team was already 2-0.