Quick notes on the Euro 2008 Qualifiers today-a list of the heroes and goats and some unasked for insight into the greater significance of the matches.

First of all, if you have no idea what's going on in Euro 2008 Qualifying, a quick rundown. This time around only the top two teams from each qualifying group advance to the finals. In the past, when the groups were smaller, the best third places teams also advanced to the finals. What it means to Euro 2008 is just that a team's fate is decided entirely within its own group. The groups generally have three strong teams, but some have four and some only really have two.

Each team plays 12 matches and most went into today having already played 8 or 9 of them. In any case, all points are crucial from here on out.

You can check out the group standings here .

Now to the interesting matches.

England 3 v. Russia 0 at Wembley Stadium, Group E
 
Can you say Owen for England? England has been less than emphatic in its qualifying run and started this game third in its group. Their attack has been anemic thus far and this week manager Steve McClaren tried to solve the problem by going retro, starting Michael Owen and Emile Heskey up top after those two engineered the 3-0 dismantling of Israel on Wednesday. Russia has been very skimpy with opponents, letting in the least amount of goals in the group, so most people felt this would be a tight low-scoring affair. Owen scored twice today. He has three goals in his last two games for England, 40 for his career, and for the first time in three years the story for the Newcastle striker is not about his ruined leg . The result puts England two points up on Russia in Group E to and within two of leading Croatia. Has anyone considered the possibility that Beckham and Owen are opposite karmic imprints of Roy of the Rovers? Fishy that whenever one of them is up the other is down.

Netherlands 1 v. Albania 0 in Tirana, Albania, Group G

Holland was coming off a crucial win over Bulgaria on Wednesday and Albania are the fifth-placed team in the group. But the Albanians have not lost in Tirana in five games and they are prickly competition. They completely frustrated Holland for 90 minutes and could have beaten them, taking most of the better chances throughout the game and seeming to completely demoralize the Clockwork Orange. But the game sort of exploded in the last minutes when Albanian midfielder Cana got red-carded after a tackle and confrontation with Snejder. Van Nistlerooy pushed Cana away from Snejder and the rash youngster head-butted Ruud in the chest. No head-butting. Just two minutes after the sending off, in front of a riotous crowd, Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson, a second half-sub, ran free down the wing and made a sweet touch around his defender, then half-volleyed a cross at the near post. Ruud Van Nistlerooy, who in truth had done almost nothing all game besides drawing that red card, halted at the corner of the six, planted his feet, hopped in the air, and re-directed an acute angle volley for a goal. The stadium was stunned into silence for a few moments, before the Albanian stands erupted into spirited singing. In the midst of all the hullabaloo someone launched a large firework at Melchiot's head while he was attempting to throw a ball into play. The firework exploded into a cloud of paper and gunpowder two feet from Melchiot's ear and the referee stopped the match as the medical staff treated him. So much for easy games.

Scotland 1 v. France 0 in Paris, Group B

France were the leaders in the group going into the game, having just tied Italy 0-0 in a truly boring soccer game on Wednesday. Scotland, a team that at times looks totally devoid of skill, found itself in the unfamiliar situation of being right in the thick of things with France and Italy, starting the game in third place. A win would vault them into first position. In spite of not putting two passes in a row together until just before half-time, Scotland came away with a stolen win that could go a long way to qualifying them. James McFadden hit a screamer from 30 yards out in the 64th minute and France failed to respond. It's certainly not the first time this year that Thierry Henry has looked old and cranky. Only Franck Ribery seemed at the top of his game for Les Bleus.

Other action:

Hamid Altintop (B. Munich) of Turkey and David Healy (Fulham) of N. Ireland, two men in fine club form and even better international form, continued their run of play by scoring today. Turkey's emphatic win over Hungary puts them in second place in Group C. Healy's effort was wasted, sadly, when N. Ireland defender Keith Gillespie conceded an own goal in that last minute of play. Having started their qualifying campaign in lively fashion, N. Ireland seem to be fading like their Republican counterparts.