Football: We can emulate Greece, says Trapattoni
Ireland secured qualification for its first major finals since the 2002 World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Estonia, rounding off a 5-1 aggregate victory.
Trapattoni admitted that he had high hopes for the finals.
“I hope only that we have no injuries and no suspensions,” said the 72-year-old Italian. It would be good that we have new options to come in but it’s important that we have the our first team available.
“With this group though, why not match Greece’s achievement? It’s not a dream,” said Trapattoni.
Elsewhere, a double from Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Portugal to a 6-2 aggregate win against Bosnia-Herzegovina following a goal-less first leg. The Czech Republic also qualified with a 1-0 win over Montenegro for a 3-0 aggregate victory, and Croatia advanced with a 0-0 draw to seal a 3-0 aggregate victory over Turkey.
Spain, Netherlands confirmed as top seeds
Spain and Netherlands were confirmed as top seeds for Euro 2012 by Uefa along with co-hosts Poland and Ukraine.
Germany, England, Russia and Italy will be the second seeds at the draw on December 2, where the 16 teams will be divided into four groups. The third-seeds will be Croatia, Greece, Portugal and Sweden and the fourth-seeds Denmark, France, Czech Republic and Ireland.
Spain, Germany, Portugal and France could potentially be drawn together in a ‘group of death’.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2011.
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