Saturday Action In Euro 2008 Qualifying

Time now, ladies and gentlemen, for a rundown of Saturday's action in qualifications for the 2008 European Championships:


GROUP A:

At Belgrade:

Nikola Zigic scored the game's only goal in the 54th minute as Serbia defeated visiting Belgium 1-0. Details here.

At Porto, Potugal:

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to pace Portugal to a 3-1 home win over Azerbaijan. Details here.

At Yerevan, Armenia:

Visiting Finland and Armenia settled for a 0-0 deadlock. Details here.

At Almaty, Kazakhstan:

Euzebiusz Smolarek popped in the only goal (52') in Poland's 1-0 road win versus Kazakhstan. Details here.


GROUP B:

At Torshavn, Faroe Island:

Andrius Skerla, in his 50th appearance for Lithuania, scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute, as he and his visiting mates topped a game Faroe Islands squad 1-0. Details here.

At Glasgow:

Gary Caldwell's 67th-minute goal provided the margin for Scotland's 1-0 home win over France. Details here.

At Rome:

Italy, on goals from Massimo Oddo (PK71') and Luca Toni (79'), picked up a needed 2-0 home win over Ukraine. Details here.


GROUP C:

At Chisinau, Moldova:

Moldova and visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina battled to a 2-2 draw. Details here.

At Budapest:

Tuncay Sanli scored the only goal (41') in Turkey's 1-0 road win against Hungary. Details here.

At Athens:

Kostantinos Katsouranis lifted Greece to a 1-0 road win against Norway by scoring the game's only goal in the 33rd minute. Details here.


GROUP D:

At Cardiff, Wales:

Visiting Slovakia handed Wales a 5-1 beatdown. Details here.

At Liberec, Czech Republic:

The Czech Republic delivered a good ol' fashioned frontier-style fistbeating to hapless visiting San Marino 7-0. Details here.

At Nicosia, Cyprus:

Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambides each scored twice to lead Cyprus to an easy 5-2 home win over the Republic of Ireland. Details here.


GROUP E:

At Manchester, England:

Host England was held to a 0-0 draw by Macedonia. Details here.

At Moscow:

Amit Ben Shushan's 84th-minute equalizer enabled Israel to gain a 1-1 road draw with Russia. Details here.

At Zagreb, Croatia:

Mladen Petric was glad all over (as were his teamates) as he popped in four goals (12', 37', 48', 50') as Croatia blasted visiting Andorra 7-0. Details here.


GROUP F:

At Solna, Sweden:

Sweden, on goals from Johan Elmander (10') and Marcus Allback (82'), blanked visiting Spain 2-0. Details here.

At Copenhagen, Denmark:

Visiting Norther Ireland and Denmark battled to a 0-0 draw. Details here.

At Riga, Latvia:

Latvia, whose Maris Verpakovskis scored twice (15' and 25'), pounded Iceland 4-0 at home. Details here.


GROUP G:

At Bucharest:

Romania picked up a 3-1 home win over Belarus. Details here.

At Celje, Slovenia:

Milivoje Novakovic (30') and Robert Koren (44') each scored a goal to lead Slovenia to a 2-0 home win over Luxembourg. Details here.

At Sofia, Bulgaria:

Homestanding Bulgaria and the Netherlands battled to a 1-1 draw. Details here.

UEFA Cup Draw

Okay, boys and girls, here are the eight groups resulting from Tuesday's draw for the UEFA Cup group stage at Nyon, Switzerland:

GROUP A:
AJ Auxerre
Rangers FC
Partizan Belgrade
Livorno
Maccabi Haifa

GROUP B:
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge
Besiktas
Dinamo Bucharest
Tottenham Hotspur

GROUP C:
Sevilla
AZ Alkmaar
Slovan Liberec
Grasshoppers
Sporting Braga

GROUP D:
Parma
Lens
SC Heerenveen
Osasuna
Odense

GROUP E:
Feyenoord Rotterdam
FC Basel
Wisla Krakow
Blackburn Rovers
AS Nancy Lorraine

GROUP F:
Ajax Amsterdam
Sparta Prague
RCD Espanyol de Barcelona
FK Austria Vienna
Zulte Waregem

GROUP G:
Panathinaikos
Paris Saint-Germain FC
Rapid Bucharest
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Mlada Boleslav

GROUP H:
Newcastle United
Celta Viga
Palermo
Fenerbahce
Eintracht Frankfurt

Group stage action starts on October 19, with each team playing one game aginst each of the other teams in its group. The top three finishers in each group would advance to the knockout stage, beginning with the round of 32, in which they would be joined by the third-place finishers in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Fulham, Watford Draw In Wild One

At Watford:

In the lone Monday affair in the English Premiership, Watford and Fulham enganged in a wild match that ended in a 3-3 draw. Details here.

Sunday Eredivisie Action

Here's a rundown of Sunday's action in the Netherlands:


At Ultrecht:

After blowing a two-goal second-half lead, Ajax Amsterdam recovered as sub Kenneth Perez scored the game winner in the 87th minute, thus enabling the visitors to win a wild, hard-fought match with FC Ultrecht, 3-2. Details here.


At Heerenveen:

SC Heerenveen battled visiting PSV Eindhoven to a 0-0 deadlock. Details here.


At Alkmaar:

Kew Jaliens' goal in the 69th minute allowed AZ Alkmaar to gain a 2-2 home draw with ADO Den Haag. For the cellar-dwelling visitors from The Hague, it was their first point of the Eredivisie season. Details here.


At Groningen:

Visiting Vitesse Arnhem took a 3-1 lead after Youssouf Hersi scored twice (at 54 and 78 minutes), but FC Groningen staged a great comeback, with Koen Van Der Laak's 81st-minute penalty kick, and then two goals from Luis Suarez (in the 87th and 90th minues), to pull out an exciting 4-3 win. Details here.


At Rotterdam:

Feyenoord Rotterdam back from behind to pick up a 3-2 home win over NAC Breda. Pierre van Hooijdonk scored the winning goal in the 63rd minute. Details here.

Sacre Bleu! Nancy, Auxerre, Marseille, St. Etienne Come Up Winners

In Sunday action in France's Ligue 1:

At Nancy:

AS Nancy Lorraine, on goals from Benjamin Gavanon (PK 26') and David Sauget (58') held off visiting Lens 2-1. Details here.


At Auxerre:

Daniel Niculae's goal in the 40th minute was the only goal AJ Auxerre needed in their 1-0 home win against struggling Nantes. Details here.


At Marseille:

With goals from Taye Taiwa (45'), Habib Barmogo (45'), and Larik Cana (47'), Olympique de Marseille racked up an impressive 3-0 home whitewashing of Toulouse. Details here.


At St. Etienne:

Aruajo Ilan notched the game only goal (38') as St. Etienne racked up a 1-0 home win versus Paris Saint Germain. Details here.

Celtic, Hearts, Rangers Win

Three games in Sunday Scottish Premier League action:


At Falkirk:

Aiden McGeady's goal in the 84th minute lifted league-leading Celtic to a 1-0 road win against Falkirk. Details here.


At Edinburgh:

With four different goal scorers (one of them wearing a Dundee United uniform scoring an own goal), Hearts returned to their winning wins, smacking visiting Dundee United 4-0. Details here.


At Glasgow:

Filip Sebo scored the only goal of the match in the 88th minute as Rangers picked up a 1-0 home win against Aberdeen. Details here.

Busy Sunday In La Liga

Nine games were on Sunday's schedule in Spain's top soccer division:


At La Coruna:

With two goals in the final ten minutes, Deportivo La Coruna registered a 2-0 home win over Real Sociedad. Details here.


At Santander:

Winless Racing Santander had to settle for a 1-1 home draw against Celta Vigo. Details here.


At Barcelona:

Espanyol and visiting Osasuna battled to a 0-0 deadlock. Details here.


At Madrid:

Raul's goal in the 37th minute lifted Real Madrid to a 1-1 home draw against intratown rival Atletico Madrid. Details here.


At Seville:

FC Sevilla downed visiting Getafe 1-0 on the strength of Luis Fabiano's goal in the 33rd minute. Details here.


At Zaragoza:

Real Zaragoza came back from a two-goal second-half deficit to gain a 2-2 draw with Levante. Albert Celades (60') and Diego Milito (80') scored for the home club. Details here.


At Mallorca:

Two goals from Diego Forlan (21', 25') held up as Mallorca held off visiting Villarreal 2-1. Details here.


At Huelva:

Thanks to late second-half goals from Florent Sinama-Pongolle (84') and Javi Guerrero (88'), Recreativo Huelva racked up a 2-0 home win at the expense of Real Betis. Details here.


At Valencia:

David Villa scored twice (54' and 79') and Fernando Morientes (14') popped in one of his own as Valencia clubbed visiting Gimnastic de Tarragona 3-0. Stats here.

Busy Sunday in Serie A

It was a busy Sunday in Italy's top soccer division:


At Milan:

It was another goaless draw for AC Milan. The home side were held to a 0-0 tie by AC Siena. Details here.


At Rome:

Vincentzo Montello's header in the 23rd minute powered AS Roma to a 1-0 win over Empoli. Details here.


At Cagliari:

Cagliari surprised Inter Milan by holding the visitors to a 1-1 draw. Details here.


At Genoa:

Sampdoria ended a string of 16 Serie A games without a win by coming from behind to defeat visiting Parma 3-2. Details here.


At Florence:

Fiorentina, with goals from Martin Jorgensen (53'), Luca Toni (79'), and Dario Dainelli (83'), broke open a match that was scoreless at halftime and hammered visiting Catania Calcio 3-0. Details here.


At Udine:

Udinese settled for a 0-0 deadlock with visiting Ascoli. Details here.


At Messina:

Tomas Danilevicius scored the game's only tally (75') as Livorno registered their second league win of the season, 1-0 on the road, and handed Messina their first league loss of the season. Details here.


At Verona:

Eugenio Corini scored the only goal (30') in Palermo's 1-0 road win over Chievo Verona. Stats here.

Leverkusen Victorious; Hertha, Stuttgart, Fit To Be Tied

Here's Sunday's German Bundesliga action:


At Leverkusen:

Gonzalo Castro scored twice (28', 47') and Carsten Ramelow added another (56') as Bayer Leverkusen racked up a 3-1 home win over FC Schalke 04. Details here.


At Berlin:

League leading (based on goal differential) Hertha BSC Berlin settled for a 2-2 home draw with VfB Stuttgart. Details here.

Four Games On Premiership Schedule

Four games were played Sunday in the English Premier League:


At Manchester:

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored both goals in Machester United's 2-0 home win over Newcastle United. Details here.


At Blackburn:

Blackburn Rovers racked up a 2-1 home win at Wigan Athletic's expense. Details here.


At London:

Struggling Tottenham Hotspur picked up a critical 2-1 home win against Portsmouth. Details here.


At London:

Visiting Reading continued its strong start to its first top-flight season with a 1-0 victory over West Ham United, as the Hammers' struggle continued. Details here.

Whitecaps Capture USL1 Title

At Rochester, New York:

The Vancouver Whitecaps shut out the Rochester Raging Rhinos 3-0 to win the championship of the United Soccer Leagues' First Division (one division below Major League Soccer). Details here.

Revolution, Dynamo, Playoff Bound; Crew Not

Time now for a rundown of Saturday's Major League Soccer action:


At Foxborough (or Foxboro), Massachusetts:

The New England Revolution has reached the MLS playoffs for a fifth consecutive year thanks to a 3-1 home win over the Colorado Rapids. Steve Ralston scored a goal and assisted on another for the winners. Details here.


At East Rutherford, New Jersey:

Teenager Jozy Altidore scored the only goal in the New York Red Bulls' 1-0 home win over the playoff-bound Chicago Fire. For Jozy, it was his third goal in four games, and it helped New York's playoff chances. Details here.


At Columbus, Ohio:

For the Columbus Crew, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that thanks to three different goal scorers (Joseph Ngwenya, Jacob Thomas, and Jason Garey, in the 22nd, 66th, and 76th minutes respectively), the Crew secured a 3-1 home win over playoff-bound FC Dallas. The bad news is that because of New York's victory, Columbus was eliminated for postseason contention. Details here.


At Houston:

Brian Ching scored the only goal of the match in 86th minute, propelling the Houston Dynamo to a playoff-berth-clinching 1-0 home win over DC United, who still clinched the Supporters Shield for the best record in MLS, and a berth in next year's CONCACAF Champions Cup. Details here.


At Kansas City:

Real Salt Lake and the Kansas City Wizards battled to a high-scoring 3-3 draw. RSL's Jason Kreis scored the equalizer in the 81st minute. Details here.


At Carson, California:

The Los Angeles Galaxy, in a home match, on goals from Peter Vagenas (29'), Landon Donovan (67'), and Alan Gordon (80'), horsewhipped Chivas USA 3-0, thus keeping their own playoff chances alive, while keeping the Goats from clinching a playoff berth of their own. Details here.

Eredivisie Action, Saturday, September 30

Three games dotted the Saturday Dutch Eredivisie schedule:


At Tilburg:

Adail Ramzi's goal in the 63rd minute was all visiting Roda JC Kerkrade needed in their 1-0 road victory over Willem II Tilburg. Details here.


At Rotterdam:

Excelsior kept visiting Sparta Rotterdam winless in Eredivisie play thanks to their 3-1 win. Details here.


At Enschede:

After trailing 2-0 and 3-1, Twente Enschede came roaring back with three unanswered goals to defeat RKC Wallwijk 4-3 at home, with Kennedy Bakircioglu knocking in the game winner in the 87th minute. Details here.

Lyon Wins Again

Here's a rundown of Saturday's action in France's Ligue 1:


At Montbeliard:

Lyon rode the back of Sylvain Wiltord's 78th-minute goal to a 1-0 road win over Sochaux. For OL it was their seventh win in eight league games. Details here.


At Sedan:

Sedan went into the win column for the first time this league season, thanks to a 1-0 home win against Rennes as Stephane Noro scored the game's only goal, in the 40th minute on a successful penalty kick. Details here.


At Lille:

Nicolas Fauvergue came off the bench to score the only goal (68') of Lille's 1-0 home win over struggling Nice. Details here.


At Valenciennes:

AFC Valenciennes, powered by goals from Eric Chelle (71') and Freddy Bourgeois (90'), shut out visiting Bordeaux 2-0. Details here.


At Lorient:

Lorient battled Troyes to a home 0-0 deadlock. Details here.


At Monte Carlo:

AS Monaco picked up a needed 2-1 home win over Le Mans, thanks to Jeremy Menez, who scored the game winner in the 82nd minute. Details here.

Scottish Premier League Action, Saturday, September 30

Time for a rundown of Saturday's Scottish Premier League action:


At Inverness:

Ross Tokely scored the game winner in the 90th minute as Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC racked up their first home league win of the season, 1-0, over Dunfermline. Details here.


At Motherwell:

Scott McDonald scored twice (82' and 86') as Motherwell delivered visiting Kilmarnock a 5-0 frontier-style fistbeating. Details here.


At Paisley:

David van Zanten scored the only goal of the match in the 39th minute as St. Mirren picked up a 1-0 home win over Hibernian. Details here.

Wolfsburg Stuns Bayern

In Saturday's play in Germany's Bundesliga:



At Wolfsburg:

Mike Hanke scored the game's only goal as VfL Wolfsburg stunned FC Bayern Munich with a 1-0 home win, their first league victory this season. Details here.


At Aachen:

Thanks to goals from Jan Schlaudraff (48') and Sascha Rosler (49'), Alemania Aachen came from behind to defeat visiting VfL Bochum 2-1. Details here.


At Bielefeld:

Three second half goals lifted Arminia Bielefeld to a 3-1 home win over Energie Cottbus. Stats here.


At Bremen:

Thanks to a Borussia Mochengladbach defensive lapse in which Aaron Hunt (33'), Christian Schulz (35'), Diego (38') all scored, Werder Bremen picked up a decisive 3-0 home win. Details here.


At Frankfurt:

Visiting Hamburg SV twice battled back from behind to gain a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt. Details here.


At Nuremberg:

Christof Babatz scored in the 85th minute, lifting Mainz to a 1-1 road draw with FC Nurnberg. Details here.

Easy Win For Lazio; Reggina, Atalanta Draw

Here's Saturday action in Italy's Serie A:


At Bergamo:

With both goals within the first six minutes of play, visiting Reggina and Atalanta settled for a 1-1 draw. Details here.


At Turin:

Helped along by two Massimo Oddo (PK-54', 68'), Lazio handed homestanding Torino a 4-0 beatdown. Details here.

Barcelona Wins One On The Road

At Bilboa:

In Saturday's lone La Liga match, in their contest minus injured striker Samuel Eto'o, FC Barcelona spotted Athletic Bilbao a 1-0 lead before coming back for a 3-1 road win. Details here.

Blades End 12-Year Premiership Victory Drought

In Saturday action in the English Premier League:


At Sheffield:

Phil Jagielka's goal during the first minute of second-half stoppage time lifted Sheffield United to a 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough. This marked the Blades' first win in England's top flight division since 1994. Details here.


At Bolton:

Gary Speed and Ivan Campo each scored a goal in Bolton Wanderers' 2-0 home win over Liverpool. Details here.


At London:

Robin van Persie scored a goal in each half of Arsenal's 2-1 road win against struggling Charlton Athletic. Details here.


At London:

Gabriel Abgonlahor's 45th-minute equalizer helped Aston Villa pick up a point resuting from their 1-1 road draw with Chelsea. Details here.


At Liverpool:

Micha Richards scored the game-tying goal in the fourth minute of stoppage to enable visiting Manchester City to gain a 1-1 draw with Everton. Details here.

Dutch Treat For Said And NEC

At Nijmegen:

In Friday's lone Dutch Eredivisie match, Said Boutahar scored twice (11' and 74') to lead NEC Nijmegen to a 2-0 home win against SC Heracles Almelo. It was NEC's first win of the Eredivisie season. Details here.