Turkey Drawn With Germany, Belgium in 2012 Qualifiers
National Team • Author: Mehmet Pozam • Sunday, February 7, 2010
Turkey's Milli Takım has been drawn in UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Group A alongside familiar foes Germany and Belgium. Qualifiers will take place between September 2010 - October 2011. The Crescent Stars will also be playing against Austria, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for a spot in the UEFA EURO 2012 finals which will be hosted in Poland & Ukraine.
It was German winger Philip Lahm's last-minute goal that had stopped Turkey from reaching the UEFA EURO 2008 Final. Now, fate has brought Turkey and Germany together again for the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers. Both nations were drawn into Group A in Sunday's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying draw that took place in the Polish capital of Warsaw.
Milli Takım will also be facing Belgium once again. The Crescent Stars were unable to beat the Red Devils in both fixtures of the FIFA 2010 World Cup qualifiers. While Belgium had held Turkey to a 1-1 draw in Istanbul, Milli Takım had lost 2-0 to their opponents in the return match in Brussels.
Turkey's other three opponents in Group A are Austria, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Milli Takım has also previously played with all three nations. While Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were easy fixtures for Turkey, Milli Takım could be seeking sweet revenge against Austria who had hindered Turkey's qualification to the FIFA 2002 World Cup Finals in the play-off round.
National associations now have one month's time in order to determine their exact match schedule for the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers. Matches will be taking place between September 2010 - October 2011. While the nine group winners and the runner up with the best record will directly qualify for the competition finals, the remaining eight runners up will play a play-off round to determine the last four participants. Co-hosts Poland & Ukraine naturally get an automatic bye into the UEFA EURO 2012 finals.
UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Groups
Group A: Germany, TURKEY, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan
Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands
Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino
Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro
Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein
(Photo courtesy of Ligtv.com.tr)
Comments (18)
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1. We play against the #2 team in Europe
2. Belgium is a pretty Good #4 Seed.
Positives
1. Austria is ranked the 2nd loweest #3 seed according to the UEFA Coefficient.
2. If you are a German Turk, this draw is a dream. We should have great support in the games at Germany & Austria.
Overall- We NEED to at least finish 2nd here. I also HOPE they schedule the Germany games NOT in March. That was a problem with the Spain matchups in the WCQ. We played them in the Spring with a few injuries. Spain was very deep and took advantage of that. TFF should be smart and schedule those games for Sept if all possible.
I would like to see this schedule
(Sep 2010) at Kazakhistan, vs. Germany (October 2010) at Belgium, vs. Azerbaijan (March 2011) at Austria, vs. Austria (Sep 2011) at Azerbaijan, vs. Belgium (Oct 2012) at Germany, vs Kazakhistan
Belgium isn't the easiest team from that fourth pot but theyre definitely a team we should still beat.