The Republic of Ireland, Croatia and the Czech Republic all took giant strides towards qualifying for Euro 2012 on Friday but Portugal were left with plenty of work to do after their stalemate in Bosnia.
In Tallinn, Ireland swept aside nine-man Estonia 4-0 to put themselves on the brink of their first European championships since 1988 and erase memories of their painful 2010 World Cup play-off defeat to France. Giovanni Trapattoni’s men mastered minnows Estonia in this play-off first leg with a double from inspirational skipper Robbie Keane after first half contributions from Keith Andrews and Jonathan Walters. Estonia did not help their cause when Andrei Stepanov was red-carded for a foul on Keane on 35 minutes, with captain skipper Raio Piiroja following him off the pitch in the last quarter of an hour.
