EURO 2012 Qualifying Results!

Well, it was a day packed full of action as Group A took one more step to a close with  Azerbaijan defeated 1-4 by Austria. Yes, neither of these teams can qualify any more, but it was still a great result for the Austrians who were coming off of a 3-game losing streak. It's true, Azerbaijan were brought down to 10 men in the 27th minute, but Marc Janko, Austria's captain, struck a brace while Andreas Ivanschitz opened the scoring and Zlatko Junuzovic closed it int the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half. Meanwhile, challengers for 2nd place Turkey were beaten 1-3 by an on-form and qualified Germany. Despite playing in Istanbul, Germany were already 2-0 up before Turkey scored their first goal. Mario Gomez struck first in the 35th while Thomas Muller added a second in the 66th. Turkey were brought a goal back through Hakan Balta while Bastian Schweinsteiger added Germany's third in the 86th minute. The last game in Group A was between Belgium and Kazakhstan which started totally in Belgium's favor and remained that way throughout. The home field advantage was a good start but the 4-0 lead was even better! Timmy Simons opened the game's goal account in the 40th from the penalty spot with Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany striking once each in the 43rd and 49th minutes respectively. Marvin Ogunijimi scored late in the 84th to make it a show: 4-0! Kairat Nurdauletov converted his penalty in the 86th but that was honestly just a formality as Belgium are in a strong position to qualify while Kazakhstan are out and gone. The Group A table looks as follows: Germany are undefeated and perfect with 27 points from 9 games. Belgium are actually in 2nd with 15 points from 9 matches while Turkey are a point and a place behind them. Austria can no longer qualify with 11 points from 9 matches and holding 4th place. Azerbaijan are in 5th with 7 points from 9 games while Kazakhstan took 3 points from 9 games. So, Belgium v.s. Germany and Turkey v.s. Azerbaijan will be the deciding games of this group, and that's for 2nd place. Meanwhile, Group B Armenia beat Macedonia 4-1, Slovakia were edged 0-1 at home by a visiting Russia. Andorra were defeated by the Republic of Ireland 0-2. More updates coming! Stay tuned!