Germans have unfamiliar company with Albanians in Euro finals

“To tell the truth, the score [in the 3-0 victory in Armenia] didn’t matter; the important thing was to win, get the three points and take second place in the group”.

“We sang the same song as in Ireland”, Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

Thomas Mueller had given Germany the lead shortly after half-time, converting a penalty for his ninth goal in the qualifiers, before it was cancelled out nearly immediately by Jaba Kankava. It tied the mark set by David Healy of Northern Ireland in Euro 2008 qualifying.

Grzegorz Krychowiak netted a 13th-minute opener for the Poles in Warsaw before Jon Walters levelled from the penalty spot shortly after. Georgia finished six points further back, with Gibraltar bottom on none.

Romania also made sure of their place in France thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win over hosts Faroe Islands, Constantin Budescu netting a double and Alexandru Maxim adding a late third to finish second in Group F behind Northern Ireland, who drew 1-1 in Finland.

However, Hungary soon took over and equalized in the 26th with a header by Gergo Lovrencsics, before Krisztian Nemeth put Hungary ahead from point-blank range in the 55th.

Greece finally ended its miserable run when substitute Panagiotis Kone headed in the victor in the 86th minute.

Constantin Budescu, who replaced the ineffective Claudio Keseru in Romania’s starting lineup, scored twice before the break and nearly grabbed a hat-trick in the second half.

The World Cup winners, who have lifted the Henri Delauney trophy three times as European champions, left it late but sealed their spot with a 2-1 win over already-eliminated Georgia which gave them top spot in Group D.

Goalless stalemates against Northern Ireland, Hungary and Greece, and a 1-1 draw at home to Finland, threatened to derail Romania as pressure mounted on the Euro 2000 quarter-finalists.

The marathon week of qualifiers continues on Monday and Tuesday with another 18 matches after which 20 finalists will be known, including the team that has qualified with the best record from the third-placed finishers in he nine groups. With qualification already secured in advance, the Portuguese played without Cristiano Ronaldo and a few other regular starters.

Aleksandar Kolarov was sent off for protesting that the goal should not have stood and then in the 81st minute, Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic was also shown a red card for swiping his arm at Andre Andre during an aerial duel.