The Republic of Ireland, Croatia and the Czech Republic all took giant strides towards qualifying for Euro 2012, but Portugal was left with plenty of work to do after its stalemate in Bosnia.
In Tallinn, Ireland swept aside nine-man Estonia 4-0 on Friday to put itself on the brink of its first European championships since 1988 and erase memories of its painful 2010 World Cup play-off defeat to France.
Giovanni Trapattoni's men mastered minnow Estonia with a double from inspirational skipper Robbie Keane after first half contributions from Keith Andrews and Jonathan Walters.
Estonia did not help its cause when Andrei Stepanov was red-carded for a foul on Keane on 35 minutes, with captain and skipper Raio Piiroja following him off the pitch in the last quarter of an hour.
Keane said, “Full credit to all the players, to come here and win 4-0 is a great result. I said yesterday there was calmness in the camp — the confidence we have in the squad and the way we've played in the whole campaign, we deserve to go through.
With the return leg in Dublin on Tuesday, Ireland can start thinking about packing its bags to Ukraine and Poland. Keane added, “We can't take anything for granted, but if we don't qualify now, we will be devastated.”
Croatia is also firmly in the driving seat in its play-off against Turkey after an equally impressive 3-0 defeat in Istanbul. Ivica Olic, Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka did the damage to give the Croats a priceless win away from home ahead of the second leg in Zagreb.
Croatia got off to the best possible start, racing into a two-minute lead when Bayern Munich striker Olic tapped in Corluka's cross from the left corner flag, with Turkey keeper Volkan Demirel found wanting.
That was Croatia's fastest ever goal in Euro qualifying.
Croatia doubled its lead on an electric counter-attack down the right. Darijo Srna sent in a peach of a cross with Modric's shot blocked. The ball found its way over the right flank again and Srna tried once more, this time Wolfsburg forward Mandzukic heading in at the far post.
On 51 minutes, Corluka compounded Turkey's misery, escaping his marker to run onto Srna's whipped free-kick to head home from five metres.
Czechs in command
In Prague, winger Vaclav Pilar and sweeper Tomas Sivok gave the Czech Republic a priceless 2-0 win over Montenegro.
Czech coach Michal Bilek observed, “We're only half way through. We're in for a terribly difficult game in Montenegro because they always gain a big advantage at home; their fans are a loud crowd.”
Euro 2004 finalist Portugal came away from its trip to Zenica with a goalless draw, with Bosnia-Hercegovina striker Vedad Ibisevic spurning two late chances to break the deadlock.
After a largely uninspiring performance, Portugal, which famously ended Bosnia's 2010 World Cup hopes with two 1-0 play-off wins, now faces a nervy return leg in Lisbon next week.
Cristiano Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure, the Real Madrid star saying, “The pitch was catastrophic, which produced a result that we're not satisfed with. I was expecting a win, but unfortunately we weren't able to score. I expect certain victory in Lisbon. We are better than Bosnia and we'll prove it on the return leg.”
The results :
Euro 2012 playoffs: First leg:
At Zenica : Bosnia 0 drew with Portugal 0; At Istanbul : Turkey 0 lost to Croatia 3 (Olic 2, Manzukic 32, Corluka 51); At Prague : Czech Republic 2 (Pilar 63, Sivok 90+2) bt Montenegro 0; At Tallinn : Estonia 0 lost to Ireland 4 (Andrews 13, Walters 67, Keane 71, 88-pen).
Second leg on November 15 .
