Germany and England continue advance

LONDON - Germany and England maintained the strong starts shown by Europe’s big guns in Euro 2012 qualifying on Saturday with wins over Kazakhstan and Wales, respectively, keeping them on course for the finals.

Germany hammered the Kazakhs 4-0 in Kaiserslautern with two goals each by Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller to make it five wins out of five in Group A, which takes them eight points clear of Belgium and Austria.

England joined Montenegro at the top of Group G with 10 points from four games after a Frank Lampard penalty and a Darren Bent tap-in gave them a 2-0 win over Wales.

On Friday, group leaders Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands all won to continue their progress towards the finals in Poland and Ukraine. It was not all plain sailing for the favorites on Saturday, however, as Croatia lost 1-0 in Georgia.

Slaven Bilic’s side conceded an 89th minute goal scored by Levan Kobiashvili to hand the top spot in Group F to Greece, for which Vasilis Torosidis scored five minutes into stoppage time to secure a 1-0 win in Malta.

Greece has 11 points, Croatia 10, Georgia nine and Israel seven, after they beat Latvia 2-1.

Group H pacesetters Norway, which had won its first three games, needed a late goal to earn a 1-1 home draw with Denmark.

Group B leaders Russia also only earned a point as they were held 0-0 in Armenia, allowing Ireland, 2-1 winners over visiting Macedonia, and Slovakia, who won 1-0 in Andorra, to join them in a three-way tie at the top, all on 10 points.

The nine group winners and one runner-up with the best record automatically qualify for the finals with the eight other runners-up going into playoffs to produce four more qualifiers to join the two host nations.

Germany, three-time winners and three-time losing finalists, can already start planning for its next assault on the championship after another dominating display.

Mueller, the top scorer in the 2010 World Cup, struck twice before the break, both times set up by Mesut Ozil, as the injury-hit visitors struggled to deal with wave after wave of German attacks.

Klose, out of favor at Bayern Munich, continued to reward the faith shown by national coach Joachim Low when he scored at the start and end of the match, finding the target for a sixth consecutive game and taking his tally to 61 in 107 matches.

The win takes Germany to 15 points from five games, in which they have scored 17 goals and conceded one. Belgium and Austria have seven points.

England recovered from the blip of being held at home by Montenegro last time out with an away win in Cardiff.

The game had been billed as a potentially tricky local derby but was effectively over after 15 minutes thanks to Lampard’s penalty and Bent’s close-range finish of a sweeping move.

Reuters

Related Korean Article[OSEN]
잉글랜드-독일, 유로 2012 예선서 선두 질주

잉글랜드와 독일이 축구 강국의 면모를 보이며 유로 2012 조 예선서 선두를 질주했다.

잉글랜드는 27일(이하 한국시간) 새벽 웨일스 카디프의 밀레니엄 스타디움서 열린 웨일스와 `유로 2012` G조 예선에서 프랑크 람파드와 대런 벤트의 연속골로 2-0으로 완승을 거뒀다. 이로써 잉글랜드는 몬테네그로와 승점이 10점으로 같아지며 골득실에서 앞서 조 선두로 올라섰다.

잉글랜드는 경기 시작 6분만에 승기를 잡았다. 웨일스의 중앙 수비 제임스 콜린스가 애슐리 영에게 박스 내에서 파울을 범한 것. 페널티킥을 얻어낸 잉글랜드는 람파드가 가볍게 성공시키며 리드를 잡았다.

분위기를 완벽하게 사로 잡은 잉글랜드는 전반 15분 추가골을 터트렸다. 후방에서 들어오는 긴 패스를 영이 받아 오른쪽 측면으로 돌파해 들어가며 올린 낮은 크로스를 문전에 있던 벤트가 밀어 넣어 골망을 갈랐다. 잉글랜드의 집중력 있는 공격이 돋보이는 순간이었다.

웨일스는 홈팬들을 위해 최대한 골을 만회하기 위해 노력했지만 잉글랜드의 수비진이 쉽게 골을 허용할 리가 없었다. 결국 전력차를 극복하지 못한 웨일스는 0-2로 무릎을 꿇고 말았다.

한편 독일은 카자흐스탄과 A조 예선에서 홈팬들의 열광적인 응원에 힘입어 4-0으로 대승을 했다. 승점 3점을 추가한 독일은 2위 벨기에와 승점차를 8점으로 벌리며 선두를 독주했다.

독일은 전반전에만 3골을 폭발시키며 승부를 결정지었다. 경기 내내 일방적인 공세를 퍼부은 독일은 `고공 폭격기` 미로슬라브 클로제와 토마스 뮐러가 각각 2골을 터트리며 대승을 거뒀다.