Another 6 countries secured their places at Euro 2008 on Saturday night, with Leo Beenhakker’s Poland possibly celebrating the loudest after their 2-0 defeat of Belgium qualified for the first time to a Euro championship. World champions Italy, Netherlands and Spain all progressed with victories while Croatia, beaten by Macedonia, advanced thanks to Russia’s defeat against Israel. France‘s players did not even have to put on their boots, with Italy’s last-gasp win in Scotland enough to send them through also. This takes to 12 the number of teams now qualified, with co-hosts Austria & Switzerland, holders Greece, Czech Republic, Germany and Romania already assured their places.
4 more spots to Euro 2008 remain up for grabs, with only one round left to go. Here’s a round-up of each qualifying group, with an analysis of the situation with regards to Wednesday’s matches (courtesy of uefa.com).
.
| Poland’s 2-0 defeat of Belgium takes them through. Portugal are one point back and in need of just a single point more after beating Armenia 1-0. However, Finland’s 2-1 victory over Azerbaijan keeps them within 3 points of the Portuguese whom they could overtake by winning the sides’ Porto showdown on Wednesday. There is also hope for Serbia who will take on Poland on Wednesday and Kazakhstan on Saturday 24 November after snow in Belgrade forced the game’s postponement on Saturday. Serbia would qualify with wins against Poland, on Wednesday, and Kazakhstan combined with a Portugal defeat against Finland. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Armenia-Kazakh. Azerbaijan-Belgium Serbia-Poland Portugal-Finland Serbia-Kazakhstan |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Poland | |
| Still in contention: | Por, Fin, Ser | |
| Eliminated: | Belgium, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan | |
.
| Italy’s 2-1 triumph in Glasgow lifts them to the top, 1 point clear of France and 2 above Scotland, whose brave bid for qualification is over. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Georgia-Lithuania Ukraine-France Italy-Faroe Islands |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Italy, France | |
| Still in contention: | / | |
| Eliminated: | Scotland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia, Faroe Islands | |
.
| Turkey took a massive step towards securing 2nd place behind group winners Greece by beating Norway 2-1 in Oslo, a result that puts them a point clear of the Scandinavians and well placed to complete the job on Wednesday when they entertain Bosnia-Herzegovina and Norway travel to Malta. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Turkey-Bosnia Malta-Norway Hungary-Greece |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Greece | |
| Still in contention: | Turkey, Norway | |
| Eliminated: | Bosnia, Hungary, Moldova, Malta | |
.
| The Czech Republic and Germany had already secured qualification and they remain tied on points at the summit after both won, the Czechs beating neighbours Slovakia 3-1 and Germany sweeping Cyprus aside 4-0. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Cyprus-Czech R. Germany-Wales S.Marino-Slovakia |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Germany, Czech | |
| Still in contention: | / | |
| Eliminated: | Ireland, Wales, Cyprus, Slovakia, San Marino | |
.
| Russia’s 2-1 reverse in Tel-Aviv means Croatia, 3 points clear at the top, are guaranteed at least 2nd place despite going down 2-0 at Macedonia. It also restores England’s hopes of progress for, with a 2-point lead over Russia, they now need only a point at home to Croatia on Wednesday when the Russians face Andorra. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Israel-Macedonia Andorra-Russia England-Croatia |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Croatia | |
| Still in contention: | England, Russia | |
| Eliminated: | Israel, Macedonia, Estonia, Andorra | |
.
| Spain booked their finals berth by beating Sweden 3-0 in Madrid. The Scandinavians are 2 points behind Spain in 2nd place and will still qualify so long as they take a point from their concluding home game against Latvia. If Sweden lose, then 3rd-placed Northern Ireland (2-1 victors over eliminated Denmark) can pip them to second place on the head-to-head rule by winning in Spain. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Spain-N.Ireland Denmark-Iceland Sweden-Latvia |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Spain | |
| Still in contention: | Sweden, N.Irel. | |
| Eliminated: | Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lichtenstein | |
.
| The Netherlands’ 1-0 home victory over Luxembourg ensured they cannot be caught by 3rd-placed Bulgaria, who remain 4 points behind the Top 2 despite beating an already qualified Romania side 1-0. | ||
| . | ||
| Final Round: | Romania-Albania Slovenia-Bulgaria Belarus-Holland |
 |
| . | ||
| . | ||
| Qualified: | Romania, Holland | |
| Still in contention: | / | |
| Eliminated: | Bulgaria, Albania, Slovenia, Belarus, Luxembourg | |
Posted in Euro 2008 |
Related Posts:
.jpg)
Predictions:
Portugal (Ronaldo)
Turkey (too easy)
England (biased)
Sweden (don’t fancy Spain losing)
Portugal (Ronaldo)
Turkey (too easy)
Russia (realistic — England are too sure of themselves and without Robinson in goal, they are disorganized)
Sweden (don’t fancy Spain losing)
Portugal (Ronaldo)
Turkey (too easy)
Russia (FU** YOU ENGLAND!!!)
Sweden (don’t fancy Spain losing)
selam nbr
I am from poland but Germany best go go go GERMANY![edit] Nazi Germany
3:5 Flag of the National Socialist German Workers Party (1920–45)
National flag of Germany (1933–45)
3:5 Used jointly with the swastika flag (1933–35), then banned as “reactionary”With the establishment of Nazi regime in Germany on 5 March 1933, the black-red-gold flag was swiftly scrapped: a ruling on 12 March reintroduced the old black-white-red imperial tricolour and established the flag of the Nazi Party as the two legal national flags of Germany.[28] In 1935, one year after the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and Hitler’s self-elevation to the position of Führer, the dual flag arrangement ended with the exclusive use of the Nazi flag as the national flag of Germany,[29] while the old black-white-red flag was banned as “reactionary”.[30]
The design of the Nazi flag was introduced by Hitler as the party flag in the summer of 1920: a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. In addition to the flag forming a link to Imperial Germany via its colour choice, the Nazi flag had additional meaning, according to Hitler in Mein Kampf: white for nationalism, red for socialism, and the swastika to symbolise the Aryan race. Albert Speer stated in his memoirs that “in only two other designs did he (Adolf Hitler) execute the same care as he did his Obersalzberg house: that of the Reich War Flag and his own standard of Chief of State”.[31]
An off-centred disk version of the swastika flag was used as the civil ensign on German-registered civilian ships and was used as the jack on Kriegsmarine (the name of the German Navy, 1933–45) warships.[32] Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so the “left-facing” and “right-facing” version were each present on one side. The Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides while the centred-disk flag was commonly used by civilians and the German armed forces aside from the navy.
From 1933 to at least 1938, before any official swastika flag went into use, it had to take part in a ceremony where it touched the Blutfahne (blood flag), the swastika flag used by Nazi paramilitaries during the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. This lengthy ceremony took place at every Nuremberg Rally. It is unknown whether this tradition was continued after the last Nuremberg rally in 1938.
At the end of World War II, the first law enacted by the Allied Control Council abolished all Nazi symbols and repealed all relevant laws.[33] The possession of swastika flags is forbidden in many Western countries since then, particularly in Germany.