European Championships Round Up.

Its been a busy old week for International football what with shock results and even more shocking behaviour taking place on the pitch.

No, nothing to see here!!

Just like the football league show on the BBC I am going to completely forget that there was any League football on over the past weekend even though there were more members of the football league playing then weren't, 48 league teams were in action over the weekend and only 24 championship teams didn't play, so just like the BBC I'll just ignore it took place.

The home nations and Eire have all had good starts to their European qualifying campaigns, none more so than Northern Ireland who sit proudly at the top of Group F after winning all 3 of their opening games.  Goals from Kyle Lafferty and Jamie Ward were enough on Tuesday night to give the Irish an impressive win over former European champions Greece, moreover it was the first time they had ever beaten the Greeks, so to do it in the Greeks own backyard makes all the more impressive.

Northern Ireland are on fire.

Scotland and Eire are both in group D and yes D certainly does stand for death in this instance as thanks to an unlikely win for Poland over Germany the group has been thrown wide open and with only 2 teams guaranteed to progress with a 3rd team going through as best runners up, what looked like a great chance for both to qualify suddenly looks a lot harder.  Germany have been less than convincing so far in this campaign but you cannot imagine they will not qualify, although they sit in 4th place below Scotland, Eire and Poland.  After seeing the Republic of Ireland tear little Gibraltar to pieces and then get an incredible away draw with Germany I expect Eire to qualify automatically probably with Germany which would mean a battle between Scotland and Poland for the last position.  Gordon Strachan has got his team playing good football and they should be higher up the table based on their performances, but the reality is that they will need to grind out some results in this qualifying campaign and hope they can do enough to get through.  The signs are starting to look a bit ominous for the Scots and it might take a shock result against Germany or Eire to give them any chance.  Hopefully they will both qualify but even if they don't this group is by far the most exciting to watch, and I am sure there are more twists and turns to come.

Wales sit on top of group B after 3 games a 2-1 win over Cyprus means they have 2 wins and a draw.  Chris Coleman must feel that this is the Welsh's big chance to qualify for a major tournament it would be an amazing achievement as it would be first time since 1958.  I still can't believe that I have never seen Wales in a major tournament considiring the great players they have had over the years.  Your Ian Ruish's, your Ryan Giggs's, your John Toshacks, your Leighton James's, your Gary Speeds and your Vinny Joneses.  It would certainly would only be fair that Gareth Bale gets to play on the biggest stage as he really is their Roy of the Rovers, don't get me wrong I am not saying that Wales are a one man team but without him in their line up they are at a similar level as a top league 1 team that are always challenging but with him they become more of a Premier league team that sit quite comfortably above the relegation places every season.  I really hope that they can keep up their fine form and more importantly keep Bale in their line up.

Wales legend Leighton James.

England kicked off the first of their qualifiers with a pretty straight forward 5-0 win against minnows San Marino, Wayne Rooney scored a penalty that gave him his 42nd England goal and then on Sunday afternoon he added his 43rd goal with the winning free kick against the mighty Estonia.  I know you can only beat what is front of you but England really made hard work of it, ok we got the points we needed but come on there is just no excitement watching England.  We really seem to struggle against any team lately, I mean it wasn't as if Estonia put everyone behined the ball it was just every chance we created was spurned.  It is so lucky that we have such an easy group because against anyone with a bit of nouse we would surely struggle.  Our biggest test is now going to come against Slovenia, I reckon they will cause us some problems.  At the moment I don't think we would beat any of the other home nations based on what I have seen from qualifying so far.  Lets hope we can improve and start putting some of these teams away with a bit more conviction, surely that is not too much to ask.

Rooney nets number 43

The biggest story of the week was when there was nearly a full scale riot on the pitch between fans and players of Serbia and Alabania the game was eventually abandoned.  Away fans had not been allowed in to this game so as to try and stop any unrest, unfortunately a drone carrying a flag got into the ground and it caused a massive fracas on the pitch.  The thing is I don't want to get in to politics and all the stuff that goes on between these countries, but surely UEFA abd FIFA should be aware and their must be ways to keep these teams apart in qualifying, I mean they can do it in the Champions league.  Sometimes there are bigger things than football and common sense should just prevail surely.

I didn't order a chair mate!!

If Poland's win over Germany was a shock then surely the biggest shock of this whole campaign is Icelands 2-0 win over World Cup Semi Finalists Holland.  Only a few months Van Persie, Robben and the like were scaring the world's defences and now they sit 3rd in Grroup A having only won 1 game from three with Iceland and the Czech's above them,  the saving grace is that this group doesn't have anyone else in it really other than the top 3.  Although if Turkey could regain some form then an away trip there could put the Netherlands in some trouble, but to be fair just like England, Holland don't really have to do too much to qualify.

Sneijder says.  What the Fuck!!