On Friday, the last teams hoping to qualify for EURO 2012 competed in the first leg of the play-offs. Some teams took care of business while others left themselves with work to do in the second legs. Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-0 Portugal Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo led his Portugal team into the Bilino Polje to take on Bosnia and Man City star Edin Dzeko. Both teams had to contend with a difficult playing surface which did not allow for a pretty match. Ronaldo was most dangerous for his side most of the night. He came close to scoring early on but his shot from fifteen yards out sailed wide left. Bosnia substitute Vedad Ibisevic had the best chance of the match when he was played onside by a stray defender. His blast sailed over the bar however and kept the match deadlocked. The second leg will be played on Tuesday. Turkey 0-3 Croatia Turkey took a heavy blow to their hopes of qualifying as they fell at home to Croatia. The visitors did well to take an early lead. After just two minutes Ivica Olic bagged a goal off a Vedran Corluka cross which he put away nicely. Half an hour later Mario Mandzukic gave Croatia a two-goal lead thanks to his header at the near post. The away side finished off a woeful Turkey team with a third and final goal in the 51st by Vedran Corluka. Scoring only his 2nd career international goal, Corluka fought off his marker and headed home the goal. The second leg will be played Tuesday. Czech Republic 2-0 Montenegro The Czech Republic put themselves in a solid position to qualify for next summer's tournament with a 2-0 victory at home. For over an hour the game was swaying back and forth waiting for either side to grab a decisive advantage. In the 63rd the Czechs took ahold of the match with a long-range goal by Vaclav Pilar. The home side got another just before the final whistle when Tomas Rosicky crossed in a ball that found the head of Tomas Sivok. Montenegro had a few chances but could not put any away and will now look to the final leg to try to qualify. The second leg will be played on Tuesday. Estonia 0-4 Ireland Ireland all but sealed the deal in their EURO play-off match against Estonia. LA Galaxy forward and Ireland captain Robbie Keane scored a brace and then teammates Keith Andrews and Jonathan Walters pitched in with goals of their own. Estonia had to play a long part of the match with a man down after Andrei Stepanov was sent off for two bookable offenses in the 35th minute. Andrews' 13th minute goal had already put pressure on Estonia and then seeing a man sent off only made matters more difficult. In the 68th Walters got his head on a ball and put Ireland ahead by two. Keane then finished things off with a goal in the 71st after he put in a rebounded free kick. It was all but done in the 88th when Keane smacked home a penalty kick and with it smacked down Estonia's dreams of getting into EURO 2012. The second leg will be played on Tuesday. BM
