Italy qualified for next year's World Cup with two games to spare on Tuesday but almost inevitably it was volatile striker Mario Balotelli who grabbed the headlines.
Ireland led the way on Friday as they and Croatia reeled off convincing away wins to move within reach of booking their places in the Euro 2012 soccer finals. Ireland won 4-0 in Estonia in the first leg to erase memories of previous play-off disappointments while Croatia crushed Turkey 3-0 in Istanbul.
Turkey have left it late to bid for a place in the knockout stage of Euro 2016 but defender Gokhan Gonul believes they still have a chance, if they can beat a buoyant Czech side in their final Group D game on Tuesday.
A summary of the Euro 2016 qualifying group matches, played on Friday.
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