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Euro 2012 Qualifying Previews: Croatia Travel To Latvia, Romania Host Albania And Slovakia Welcome Macedonia
There are a number of interesting matches on Friday...
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Sep 2, 2010 10:00:00 AM
By Subhankar Mondal
Moldova - Finland (18:30 CET)
Moldova begin their qualifying campaign in Group E with a home match against Finland. Neither team has reached the finals before but Moldova coach Gavril Balint is confident and told Uefa.com, "I want to win the Finland game. Finland are very dangerous at set pieces as they have many tall players, but we have prepared well for EURO qualifying."
Faroe Islands - Serbia (19:00 CET)
The hosts are the minnows in this group but they will still aim to start the qualifiers on a high. However, the Faroe Islands have lost both their matches against Serbia, who will be optimistic of an away win. Moreover, the hosts lost to Estonia 2-1 away in their first game of the qualifiers.
Latvia - Croatia (20:00 CET)
Croatia will aim to win their opening game in Group F against Latvia away from home. However, the hosts are unbeaten in five competitive home matches but Croatia coach Slaven Bilic remains confident.
He told Uefa.com, "We have five forwards and we picked all five. We have a list of around 30 players whom we expect to be candidates to play during the qualifying phase."
Romania - Albania (20:00 CET)
Since announcing their squad against Albania in Group D, Romania have lost three players due to injuries - Cristian Sapunaru, Mihai Radut and Cristian Tanase. Ervin Skela has been recalled by Albania despite being without a club at the moment.
Slovakia - Macedonia (20:30 CET)
Slovakia will be expected to win this Group B fixture. Having reached the second round of the World Cup finals, the Slovaks will be high on confidence but coach Vladimir Weiss says, "We won't underestimate our visitors. They are a decent team with the superb Goran Pandev from Inter Milan."
Greece - Georgia (20:45 CET)
The hosts are expected to collect three points from this Group F fixture. This will be the competitive debut for Greece coach Fernando Santos but Georgia boss Temuri Ketsbaia is confident of upsetting the Euro 2004 champions.
He said, "It's hard to demand that we reach the finals given that the team has not won for so long [Georgia secured no victories in FIFA World Cup qualifying], but I would be lying if I said I wasn't dreaming of Poland and Ukraine. As long as we have a chance, we will fight."
Slovenia - Northern Ireland (20:45 CET)
Slovenia should be the favourites for this Group C fixture and will be eager to carry on their momentum gained from their appearance at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Striker Milivoje Novakovic told Uefa.com, "Our focus is completely on Northern Ireland, we will think about more the high-profile match in Serbia after Friday.
"We know this Irish team very well, as they know us – we were in the same World Cup group. In all honesty, I'd be very happy with four points from the two games meaning we have to beat Northern Ireland."
Iceland - Norway (21:00 CET)
Norway are without striker John Carew while Eidur Gudjohnsen has not been included in the Iceland squad. The visitors will start as favourites in this Group H fixture.
Moldova begin their qualifying campaign in Group E with a home match against Finland. Neither team has reached the finals before but Moldova coach Gavril Balint is confident and told Uefa.com, "I want to win the Finland game. Finland are very dangerous at set pieces as they have many tall players, but we have prepared well for EURO qualifying."
Faroe Islands - Serbia (19:00 CET)
The hosts are the minnows in this group but they will still aim to start the qualifiers on a high. However, the Faroe Islands have lost both their matches against Serbia, who will be optimistic of an away win. Moreover, the hosts lost to Estonia 2-1 away in their first game of the qualifiers.
Latvia - Croatia (20:00 CET)
Croatia will aim to win their opening game in Group F against Latvia away from home. However, the hosts are unbeaten in five competitive home matches but Croatia coach Slaven Bilic remains confident.
He told Uefa.com, "We have five forwards and we picked all five. We have a list of around 30 players whom we expect to be candidates to play during the qualifying phase."
Romania - Albania (20:00 CET)
Since announcing their squad against Albania in Group D, Romania have lost three players due to injuries - Cristian Sapunaru, Mihai Radut and Cristian Tanase. Ervin Skela has been recalled by Albania despite being without a club at the moment.
Slovakia - Macedonia (20:30 CET)
Slovakia will be expected to win this Group B fixture. Having reached the second round of the World Cup finals, the Slovaks will be high on confidence but coach Vladimir Weiss says, "We won't underestimate our visitors. They are a decent team with the superb Goran Pandev from Inter Milan."
Greece - Georgia (20:45 CET)
The hosts are expected to collect three points from this Group F fixture. This will be the competitive debut for Greece coach Fernando Santos but Georgia boss Temuri Ketsbaia is confident of upsetting the Euro 2004 champions.
He said, "It's hard to demand that we reach the finals given that the team has not won for so long [Georgia secured no victories in FIFA World Cup qualifying], but I would be lying if I said I wasn't dreaming of Poland and Ukraine. As long as we have a chance, we will fight."
Slovenia - Northern Ireland (20:45 CET)
Slovenia should be the favourites for this Group C fixture and will be eager to carry on their momentum gained from their appearance at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Striker Milivoje Novakovic told Uefa.com, "Our focus is completely on Northern Ireland, we will think about more the high-profile match in Serbia after Friday.
"We know this Irish team very well, as they know us – we were in the same World Cup group. In all honesty, I'd be very happy with four points from the two games meaning we have to beat Northern Ireland."
Iceland - Norway (21:00 CET)
Norway are without striker John Carew while Eidur Gudjohnsen has not been included in the Iceland squad. The visitors will start as favourites in this Group H fixture.
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