Soccer
England in Wembley stalemate
2010-10-12 23:10
Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard (AP)
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London - England's route to the Euro 2012 finals was blocked resolutely by Group G surprise packets Montenegro on Tuesday as both lost their 100% records in a 0-0 Wembley deadlock.
The result left Montenegro three points clear of England at the top of the group having played one more match but apart from a brief attacking rally from England in the last 15 minutes, there was little to entertain the 73 000 frustrated fans.
Tiny Montenegro maintained their record of not conceding a goal in their four matches and nearly pinched a shock away victory when Milan Jovanovic rattled the bar six minutes from time.
England had plenty of possession but although they went close late in the game through Wayne Rooney and were denied what looked like a definite penalty when Jovanovic clearly handled in the box after 78 minutes, they looked lethargic and pedestrian.
Euro 2012 qualifying results:
Group A:
Azerbaijan 1 (Rashad F. Sadygov 38) Turkey 0
Kazakhstan 0 Germany 3 (Klose 48, Gomez 76, Podolski 85)
Belgium 4 (Vossen 12, Fellaini 47, Ogunjimi 87, Lombaerts 89) Austria 4 (Schiemer 14, 63, Arnautovic 30, Harnik 90+3)
Group B:
Armenia 4 (Ghazaryan 4, Mkhitaryan 16, Movsisyan 32, Pizzelli 52) Andorra 0
Slovakia 1 (Durica 36) Ireland 1 (St Ledger 16)
Macedonia 0 Russia 1 (Kerzhakov 8)
Group C:
Faroe Isles 1 (Holst 61) Northern Ireland 1 (Lafferty 76)
Estonia 0 Slovenia 1 (Sidorenkov 66-o.g.)
Italy v Serbia - match called off after crowd trouble
Group D:
Belarus 2 (Rodionov 10, Kryvets 77) Albania 0
France 2 (Benzema 22, Gourcuff 76) Luxembourg 0
Group E:
Finland 1 (Forssell 86) Hungary 2 (Szalai 50, Dzsudzsak 90+4)
Netherlands 4 (Huntelaar 4, 55, Afellay 36, 59) Sweden 1 (Granqvist 69)
San Marino 0 Moldova 2 (Josan 20, Doros 86-pen)
Group F:
Latvia 1 (Cauna 90+1) Georgia 1 (Siradze 74)
Greece 2 (Salpingidis 22, Karagounis 63-pen) Israel 1 (Spyropoulos 59-o.g.)
Group G:
Switzerland 4 (Stocker 8, 89, Streller 21, Inler 82-pen) Wales 1 (Bale 13)
England 0 Montenegro 0
Group H:
Denmark 2 (Morten Rasmussen 47, Lorentzen 81) Cyprus 0
Iceland v Portugal
Group I:
Liechtenstein 0 Czech Republic 2 (Necid 12, Kadlec 29)
Scotland 2 (Naismith 58, Pique 67-o.g.) Spain 3 (Villa 44-pen, Iniesta 55, Llorente 79)