Euro 2012 Qualifying Playoffs: Croatia, Czech Republic And Ireland Grab Big Wins

Portugal’s best chances came from the channels, particularly the left, and since there hasn’t been much time to adjust personnel one would expect the hosts to be hitting Bosnia hard in those gaps once more. Ultimately, it’s more important for Portugal to prevent their guest from scoring than it is to score themselves, and that will probably be mostly down to the performance of the midfield, who weren’t really very good at recovering and recirculating the ball when it was lost in Bosnia’s half on Friday.

Portugal are a team packed full of excellent players, but they haven’t really shown their stuff in a very long time and Bosnia have a real chance of snatching a win. So, with everything in the balance, get ready for an intense match. Catch the game at 9:00 PM GMT (4:00 PM EST) at the Estadio da Luz

*Trying this American football referencing thing. Did I do it right?

Ireland vs. Estonia kicks off at 2:45 pm ET and can be seen on ESPN3 in the USA. We’ll have live coverage of this and every Euro 2012 qualifying match in our Euro 2012 Qualifying Playoffs, Second Legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, visit SB Nation Soccer.

Surprisingly -- or perhaps not so surprisingly for regular watchers of Ireland -- when play resumed after halftime, it was difficult to tell which side had the man advantage. Estonia kept plenty of possession, and Given was forced into at least one decent save. But then things really started to melt down for the Sinisärgid.

It was just a little slip-up, really, by goalkeeper Enar Jaager, when blocking a shot -- but his spill landed straight at the feet of Keane. In a move nearly identical to that of McGeady in the first half, the forward chipped the ball across the goal, where Jonathan Walters headed it down and in. Just three minutes later, Keane himself added a third goal for Ireland.

Then things went from bad to worse for Estonia. Raio Piiroja, already on a yellow card, stuck out his hand most egregiously, and the referee had little choice but to call it, bringing Estonia down to nine men. All of Ireland breathed a sigh of relief as flashbacks of Paris were quickly pushed away.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

For a significant percentage of the second half between Estonia and Ireland, it was difficult to discern which team had just ten men on the pitch. Andrei Stepanov was sent off on a second yellow card before halftime, but it was Ireland that looked to be chasing the match, despite being a goal up.

Just three minutes later, Keane himself put it away, which must surely put the match out of reach for Estonia. And with three away goals, Ireland have almost certainly booked their place in Euro 2012.

Things just didn’t go Turkey’s way in the first leg of their Euro 2012 playoff as they were demolished 3-0 at home by a rampant Croatia. The scoreline means that Guus Hiddink’s side is almost certainly not going to make it through to the finals, and they don’t have anyone to blame but themselves - specifically the defence and Fenerbache goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, who contrived to shoot themselves in each foot and then once in the arm for good measure.

Olic nearly made it three on the verge of halftime, but Corluka completed the job after the defence left the Tottenham Hotspur man unmarked in the centre of the six-yard box for reasons I can’t entirely fathom. After that, Turkey had their two best chances of the match, and neither of them even resulted in a shot. That’s generally a pretty good indication that you’ve had a baaad day at the office. So is losing 3-0 at home (and there were plenty of chances to make it four).

While the game did not have a lot of chances, the Czech Republic probably should have had more than one goal. The best opportunity of the match was actually one that they failed to convert on, as Petr Jiracek missed an absolute sitter in the 33rd minute. That was the only real chance of the first half, as Montenegro held firm to keep it scoreless.

Things opened up a little bit in the second half and the Czechs were much more threatening. Still, it took quite a bit of time and a wonder strike for them to take a lead. Vaclav Pilar was the man who provided it, hitting a 25-yard stunner to the far post with his right foot in the 63rd minute.

We’ve got a cracker of a match to look forward to next week.

We have coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Alright so Bosnia should definitely have taken the lead at some point in the last few minutes. It’s a complete mystery how Vedad Ibisevic hasn’t scored at least one goal - we mentioned the clear chance from eight yards out in the last update, and his latest miss was almost as bad after a stunning through pass found the substitute running clear through on goal only for Ibisevic to blaze over Rui Patricio and the crossbar. Yikes.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

You can find live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Turkey respond with their two best chances of the match, with Stipe Pletikosa in serious danger of conceding with the ball twice ricocheting around his six yard box within the span of about two minutes, but in both instances possession fell to a blue shirt, and Croatia were able to clear. Either of those opportunities could easily have been goals - but that’s the way Turkey’s evening has been going so far.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Still, you’d have to imagine that Slaven Bilic is pretty happy with 2-0.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

That’s not to say there haven’t been scary moments for the visitors, however - Patricio has contrived to virtually drop the ball on a Bosnian foot twice already on routine catches, and if I were coaching Bosnia I’d be strongly advising players to take pops from range and then have supporting players try to mop up the rebound. For Portugal... well they’re not really creating much, and when they are they’re probably guilty of being overly elaborate. But there’s another half to grab a goal still, and they won’t be too worried just yet.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Then Gokhan Gonul, the man mostly responsible for the opener, got involved again and things went horribly wrong. What should have been an easy clearance instead popped straight up into the air and fell to Modric in space, and despite a heroic block by Sabri Sarioglu the little midfielder recovered possession, passed wide and the ball was crossed in for Mario Mandzukic to nod past Volkan Demirel. 2-0 in Turkey? That’s probably goodnight, unless there’s a very quick response from the hosts.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

You can find live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Pepe met the clearance with what appeared to be an aimless punt upfield - but the centre back’s punt ended up being a defence-splitting through ball that found the run of his Madrid teammate. Ronaldo had plenty of space and time and with the entire Bosnia defence drifting towards the ball he probably should either have shot early or crossed for Nani, lurking at the far post. Instead, he delayed, allowing his eventual shot to be blocked. That should almost certainly have been 1-0 Portugal but instead the match is still scoreless. Bosnia are making more noise going forward now, so the visitors could really regret that missed chance.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Still, if someone’s going to score, it’ll probably be the home side. They’re pressing forward quite a bit and have all of the possession. Montenegro don’t really seem to have an answer other than dropping deep and keeping their shape. They’re not even breaking out on the counter. This could get a bit dull, though there’s plenty of time for things to pick up.

You can find live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Anyway, almost 20 minutes in and the most interesting thing that’s happened is a booking - Sejad Salihovic fulfilled many a football fan’s fantasy in kicking the tar out of Ronaldo a good way out from goal and rightly received a yellow card for the assault. The free kick was outside Ronaldo’s range, so Meireles took the ball and the whole sequence eventually resulted in Helder Postiga volleying well over the bar. It’s all square at 0-0 here.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel managed to get a touch, but it wasn’t enough to divert the ball away from Bayern Munich frontman Ivica Olic, who had an extremely easy finish from two yards to open the score. So, Croatia lead 1-0 on aggregate and have an away goal. If they can get a second the tie will be virtually over.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs action in our Euro 2012 Qualifying playoffs, first legs StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Ireland Lineup (4-4-2): Given; Kelly, Dunne, St. Ledger, Ward; McGeady, Whelan, Andrews, Duff; Walters, Keane

Estonia Lineup (4-5-1): Pareiko; Piiroja, Kruglov, Jääger, Stepanov; Dmitrijev, Kink, Vunk, Vassiljev, Klavan; Ahjupera

The first legs of all four Euro 2012 Qualifying playoff fixtures will be played on Friday, with the second legs being played on Tuesday. Luckily for you, person who has an internet connection and can read the English language, there is a very good chance that you can watch these games, either on television or streaming live online, for free. The 21st century is awesome. Unfortunately for Americans, none of these games are on English-language television, but all four games are on ESPN3. It’s free through most internet service providers. Here are the TV listings for other countries/languages.

ESPN Deportes (USA - Spanish), TSN2 (Canada), ESPN+ (Most of Latin America/South America)