European Championship play-offs throw up some intriguing results

All the first legs of the European Championship play-offs have now taken place.

The two results that caught my eye were Croatia’s 3-0 win in Turkey and Republic of Ireland’s 4-0 victory in Estonia. The results caught my eye for different reasons.

Matched

The tie between Turkey and Croatia was always going to be the most intriguing of the Euro play-offs. The reason being that on paper they were the teams that were relatively well matched teams. Both would enjoy massive partisan support at their home legs in the play-offs.

Outstanding

Croatia proved far too strong for Turkey in Istanbul, they were simply outstanding. They hit the home side on the counter-attack over and over again and probably could have scored more goals than they did.

Croatia had a better attacking edge and more creativeness in their team. The Turkey team didn’t have the same ideas in attack and Croatia produced the perfect away performance. They silenced the partisan crowd with an early goal and then took control of the game.

In winning 3-0 in Istanbul the Croatians now look certain to be at next years European Championships. Turkey are a decent side but I don’t think they have enough quality to win 4-0 in Croatia.

Close

The Republic of Ireland’s 4-0 win in Estonia should be enough to take the Irish to next years Euro’s as well. Everything seemed to go the way of Giovanni Trappatoni’s men. The occasion was too much for the home side.

Two Estonian players were sent-off as the home side lost their discipline. Some of their ill-discipline may have came from the fact that were frustrated by the visitors. However there was no excuse for the sort of incidents they were booked and dismissed for.

It was a dream score line for Ireland. I don’t think the game could have went any better. The experience in the Ireland team showed as they produced a superbly disciplined display. All time leading scorer Robbie Keane will get the headlines for his brace but I would like to salute his strike-partner Jonathan Walters.

The Merseyside-born striker is a very useful weapon for Ireland too utilise. He is big and strong and holds the ball up really well. Walters also scored his adopted- countries second goal of the game against Estonia.

Elsewhere

Elsewhere it looks like Montenegro’s European Championship dream is over after they lost 2-0 in the Czech Republic. The minnows have a really big job on their hands to get to next years European Championship. They need to win by more than two goals in the second leg.

Its far tighter in the other tie as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Portugal drew 0-0 at the Olympic Stadium. It will be difficult for Bosnia to get a result in Portugal but they are still in with a chance of qualification.

Surprises

It doesn’t look like there will be any surprise qualifiers from the European Championship play-offs. The only team that have a chance of upsetting the odds is Bosnia but I think Portugal will be too strong for the Bosnians.

All the teams that qualify for the European Championships will add something to next years competition. It seems that most of Europe’s heavyweights will be in Ukraine and Poland next year and it promises to be a fantastic tournament.