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Another round of Euro 2012 qualifying fixtures were played yesterday and while most of the big guns had impressive results to show for their efforts; a few teams have left their supporters in total shock. Apart from England winning 3-1 away at Switzerland, other teams like Germany, Italy and even Sweden entertained their supporters with some delightful football while Portugal have been left to pick up the pieces of an abysmal start to their campaign.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 0-2 France (Group D)

France bounced back from their shock defeat to Belarus on Friday to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in Sarajevo to record their first win of the qualifying campaign. Two late goals, from Karim Benzema and Florent Malouda, helped Laurent Blanc's team to victory and finally gave French fans something to cheer about after a summer of torment. Benzema scored a wonderful goal in the 72nd minute before Malouda slotted home in the 78th minute to seal the home side's fate.

Russia 0-1 Slovakia (Group B)

Slovakia produced the shock of the day as they stunned Russia 1-0 in Moscow. Miroslav Stoch scored the only goal of the game in the 27th minute. The Fenerbahce midfielder latched onto Igor Akinfeev's poor throw and unleashed a shot into the top corner to give Slovakia the lead. Yuri Zhirkov squandered Russia's best opportunity when he shot wide from a very good position. Slovakia join Ireland on top of Group B

Switzerland 1-3 England  (Group G)

In Group G, England were impressive in their 3-1 victory over Switzerland in Basel. Wayne Rooney put his personal troubles behind him as he put England in the lead in the 10th minute, after great work on the right by Glen Johnson and Theo Walcott. England dominated the rest of the first half but failed to take their chances. Stephan Lichtsteiner was given his marching orders in the 65th minute after he picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on James Milner. Substitute Adam Johnson doubled England's advantage in the 69th minute when he collected Steven Gerrard's through ball and rounded the keeper to tap into an empty net. The home side cut the lead to half a few minutes later through a sumptuous long range effort by Xherdan Shaqiri. But the Swiss couldn't conjure a come back as Darren Bent scored a late goal to seal England's victory.

Germany 6-1 Azerbaijan (Group A)

Germany may have struggled a little last week when they played against Belgium, but have proven once again that they still know how to rout the minnows, whipping Azerbaijan 6-1 on Tuesday. It was substitute Heiko Westermann who came on for the injured Per Mertesacker in the 11th minute and opened the scoring for the Germans. Lukas Podolski made it two in injury time at the end of the first half, but there was more to come, with less than a minute on the clock Miroslav Klose netted in another giving Germany a 3-0 cushion at the break.

The second half saw an own goal from the Azerbaijan captain Rashad F. Sadygov followed by a consolation goal from Vagif Dzhavadov but that was all they were going to get. With four minutes left to go Holger Badstuber made it 5-1 and just when you thought that it was all over Klose scored his second goal and once more it was in the 2nd minute of added time.

Italy 5-0 Faroe Islands (Group C)

Italy too smashed their opponents, Faroe Islands with a 5-0 score-line and for Italian supporters everywhere the result was a breath of fresh air. The night saw five goals from five different players with three coming in the first half itself. It was Alberto Gilardino who scored the first goal of the game from a set-piece in the 11th minute. This was followed by two fantastic goals from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Cassano with Parma full-back Luca Antonelli creating both. Faroe Islands looked to be a bit of a threat in the beginning of the second half but with just nine minutes to go Fabio Quagliarella scored another one for Italy while captain Andrea Pirlo put the cherry on top with a splendid curling effort that saw Italy make it 5-0.

Sweden 6-0 San Marino (Group E)

Sweden thrashed San Marino 6-0 and will be delighted to see themselves at the top of Group E ahead of World Cup 2010 runners-up, Netherlands.

Zlatan Ibrahimović played for the first time in nine years in his hometown Malmo, and would have been on a high after netting two goals. After Ibrahimović scored the opening goal of the match, the Swedes were in for a good time as they were gifted two goals from Davide Simoncini and keeper Aldo Simoncini  but they had to cut their celebrations short following Olof Mellberg's red card for a challenge on Simone Bacciocchi. The second half saw another three goals starting with Andreas Granqvist followed by Ibrahimović, who received a heroes ovation when he left the field, and lastly by Marcus Berg who ended the game with a goal in injury time.

Norway 1-0 Portugal (Group H)

Meanwhile, Portugal continued to struggle as they slumped to a 1-0 loss away to Norway. Erik Huseklepp put the home side ahead in the 20th minute when he slotted home John Carew’s cross. The Portuguese were restricted to long range shots for most of the game and Bruno Alves somehow contrived to head wide from point blank in injury time. The Norwegians lost Carew and Kjetil Waehler through injuries but they held on valiantly for a famous win. Norway sits pretty on top of Group H with 6 points while Portugal languishes towards the bottom with just 1 point.

In other games across Europe, Turkey took home three points after Arda Turan scored the winner in a 5 goal thriller against Belgium. Scotland and the Republic of Ireland secured wins against Liechtenstein and Andorra respectively, while Serbia and Slovenia had to settle for a 1-1 draw. In the one international friendly of note Argentina humbled World & European Champions Spain 4-1 in Buenos Aires. The super strikers - Messi, Higuain, Tevez and Aguero - all got into the scoring act as the home side made the most of the chances that came their way. Fernando Llorente scored the only goal for the Champions.

Scores:

Russia 0 - 1 Slovakia
Georgia 0 - 0 Israel
Malta 0 - 2 Latvia
Belarus 0 - 0 Romania
Bulgaria 0 - 1 Montenegro
Sweden 6 - 0 San Marino
FYR Macedonia 2 - 2 Armenia
Turkey 3 - 2 Belgium
Czech Republic 0 - 1 Lithuania
Albania 1 - 0 Luxembourg
Denmark 1 - 0 Iceland
Norway 1 - 0 Portugal
Hungary 2 - 1 Moldova
Croatia 0 - 0 Greece
Austria 2 - 0 Kazakhstan
Netherlands 2 - 1 Finland
Serbia 1 - 1 Slovenia
Germany 6 - 1 Azerbaijan
Switzerland 1 - 3 England
Republic of Ireland 3 - 1 Andorra
Italy 5 - 0 Faroe Islands
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 - 2 France
Scotland 2 - 1 Liechtenstein

The next round of matches for the Euro 2012 qualifiers are scheduled between 8th-12th October 2010.

File Photograph Copyright: Ryu Voelkel

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