Germany, Italy stroll in Euro qualifiers

France labour to 1-1 draw in Belarus.

PARIS:

Germany and Italy continued their stroll towards Euro 2012 with wins which underlined their domination of their groups but France dropped unexpected points by drawing in Belarus.

Three-time winners Germany thanked a Mario Gomez double as they floored Austria 2-1 in Vienna and they now stand seven points clear of Belgium in Group A with a game in hand.

“One must say we won this game through luck,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “The Austrians fought hard, ran well and we made a lot of mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Italy also maintained their grip on Group C with a 3-0 win over Estonia with Giuseppe Rossi, Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini on target for the Azzurri. Italy stayed five points clear of Slovenia, with a game in hand, and need to win two of their last four matches to guarantee progress to Euro 2012.

Disappointing result for France

Meanwhile, France coach Laurent Blanc was clearly unimpressed as his charges laboured to a 1-1 draw against Belarus.

The point still keeps Les Bleus - champions in 1984 and 2000 - four points clear of the eastern Europeans.

Eric Abidal’s return to the national team was marked chiefly by the left-back putting the ball through his own net in the 20th minute. Although Florent Malouda levelled within two minutes that was as good as it would get for the French with striker Karim Benzema seemingly having left his shooting boots at home. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2011.