Euro 2012 qualifying report for 6/7/2011.

There were several games today, with several looking like business as usual while others were more interesting. To start, how about Germany's comprehensive 1-3 win over Azerbaijan in Baku. Mesut Ozil opened the scoring in the 30th minute with a nice goal while Mario Gomez struck a second in the 41st to give the Germans a 0-2 lead at the half. The second half was much less eventful for the most part but it ended with two goals: one from Murad Huseynov in the 89th minute for Azerbaijan making it 1-2, and the other from Andre Schurrle in the 93rd minute to keep Germany well clear in the game and in Group A. Meanwhile, in the city of Toftir in the Faroe Islands, the home team won a very well played match against Estonia 2-0. The scorers in this impressive performance? Frodi Benjaminsen struck a penalty in the 43rd to open the scoring (missing a 47th minute penalty though) while Arnbjorn Hansen finished the job in the 47th that Benjaminsen was unable to. It was good that the goals were scored relatively early though, as first Estonia and then the Faroe Islands lost players due to bookings in the 57th and 89th minutes respectively. A similar result was on the plate for Belarus as they welcomed Luxembourg to their fair country and beat them 2-0 as well. With two second half goals from Sergei Kornilenko in the 48th and Anton Putilo in the 73rd, Belarus is 1 point away from Group D leaders France and 2 goals clear of Luxembourg. Bosnia and Herzegovina v.s. Albania also finished 2-0! Here as well the goals came late as Haris Medunjanin and Darko Maletic scored in the 67th and 91st minutes respectively while all Albania could collect was cards with Andi Lila sent off in the 87th minute. A huge match today however, did not finish 2-0. Here, I speak of the rivalry match between Sweden and Finland. In Solna, Sweden, the home side had a glorious day with Kim Kallstrom scoring in the 11th, Emir Bajrami scoring in the 83rd, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic coming on in the 25th and scoring a hat-trick in between. That's 5-0 to Sweden! Finland? Well, they took it all and gave nothing back, only taking a yellow card from the game as well as a bit of hurt morale. Last but not least, San Marino were thrashed 0-3 by a visiting Hungarian side who scored through Zoltan Liptak in the 40th, Imre Szabics 9 minutes later, and Vladimir Koman in the 83rd.