England held by Switzerland at Wembley
Paris England were held by Switzerland at Wembley and veteran Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane rewrote the record books in Euro
2012 qualifying action.Keane became the first player from Britain or Ireland to score 50 senior international goals when bagging a double in his country’s 2- 0 win over Macedonia in Skopje on Saturday.
The previous benchmark of 49 was held by Manchester United and England great Sir Bobby Charlton.
Keane plundered his 50th and 51st international goals in the eighth and 37th minutes. Macedonia were left to rue Ivan Trickovskialt146s missed 40th minute penalty when his spot kick hit the cross bar.
Thrilled at his feat Keane said: alt147 It means a hell of a lot. When I first started off Niall Quinn said Ialt146d reach it so I’m delighted.alt148 Ireland, level on points with Russia, 3- 1 winners over Armenia with Tottenhamalt146s Roman Pavlyuchenko getting a hat- trick, and Slovakia, who beat Andorra 1- 0, edged to the top of Group B on goal difference In Lisbon Portugal gave their hopes of emerging from Group H a major boost with a 1- 0 win over Norway. Helder Postiga scored the crucial goal in the 53rd minute to move the Portuguese up level on 10 points with Norway and Denmark, 2- 0 winners over Iceland in Reykjavik, with five games played.
Shock Euro 2004 winners Greece maintained their slender grip on Group F with a 3- 1 win over Malta at Piraeus.
That fourth win out of six qualifiers put them on 14 points, one clear of Croatia and Israel, who clinched a precious three points in Riga with a 2- 1 win over Latvia.
The visitors dominated the first half with goals from Yossi Benayoun and Tal Ben- Haimalt146s penalty, with Aleksandrs Cauna giving Latvia brief hopes of a comeback with a spotkick of his own, but they were unable to find an equaliser.
Fabio Capelloalt146s England held on to their Group G lead but only on goal difference after being held to a 2- 2 stalemate by Switzerland.
Errors by goalkeeper Joe Hart threatened to embarrass England who had their work cut out after going behind via goals from Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta.
England fought back with a Frank Lampard penalty and a second half strike from substitute Ashley Young.
Their closest rivals Montenegro could have gone top of the group later but a 1- 1 draw with Bulgaria in Podgorica kept them second.
Capello insisted that despite giving his players a holiday following the end of the Premier League season fatigue had played a significant part in his teamalt146s performance.
alt147 The difference between the two sides was that we lacked energy, always the same problem,alt148 the Italian said. alt147 The Swiss were fresher. However, we ended up with a good result, I got a good reaction from the players in the second half but as always at this stage of the season we were without energy.alt148 Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld was satisfied with a point but admitted he was disappointed his side were unable to defend a two- goal lead.
