National Association and Coach Profiles ALBANIA
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National Association and Coach Profiles ►ALBANIA UEFA European Championship record P74 W11 D17 L 46 F58 A140 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 1: P10 W1 D4 L5 F6 A13 Pts7 With Dutchman Arie Haan at the helm, Albania made a promising start to qualifying, picking up scoreless draws with Sweden and Portugal and a 3-0 victory against Malta in autumn 2007. Successive defeats by Hungary and Denmark in March and April 2008 spelled the end of Haan's reign, however, and Croatian Josip Kuze took the helm for the final three matches – a 2-1 loss to Portugal in added time, a 1-1 draw with the Danes and a 4-1 defeat by the Swedes. UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifying Group G: P12 W2 D5 L5 F12 A18 Pts11 Croatian coach Otto Barić led Albania on arguably their best run in UEFA European Championship qualifying. Two draws with Bulgaria, which spoiled their opponents' hopes of progressing, two more with Slovenia and one with Belarus, along with victories over Luxembourg, secured a respectable fifth-placed finish. Things might have been even better – a 91st-minute goal by Netherlands forward Ruud van Nistelrooy goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Barić's side in Tirana in September 2007 and the following month they conceded an 87th- minute equaliser at home to Bulgaria. Two closing reverses – 4-2 against Belarus and 6-1 in Romania – led to Barić's resignation. UEFA European Championship best performance Mathematically, Albania achieved their best points-per-game ratio in UEFA EURO 2004 qualifying, when they took eight from a possible 24. Drawn in Group 10 with Russia, Switzerland, Ireland and Georgia, they emerged with an unbeaten home record having beaten both Russia and Georgia 3-1, and drawn against Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. Key facts Albania have played in all but three UEFA European Championship qualifying competitions – missing out in 1960, 1976 and 1980. Their first appearance came in the last 16 of the 1964 edition, following up a 4-0 defeat by Denmark with a 1-0 victory in Tirana. Head coach: Josip Kuže Date of birth: 13 November 1952 Nationality: Croatian Playing career: NK Dinamo Zagreb Coaching career: Sydney Croatia, BSK Slavonski Brod, FK Borac Banja Luka, NK Dinamo Zagreb, Rot-Weiss Erfurt, 1. FSV Mainz 05, Gamba Osaka, NK Zagreb, Chemnitzer FC, NK Inter Zaprešić, NK Dinamo Zagreb, Rwanda, JEF United Ichihara Chiba, Albania • Spent his entire playing career as a defender with Dinamo Zagreb, making 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals between 1971 and 1981. • Started to coach in Australia, with Sydney Croatia, before working in Germany and Japan as well as his homeland. • Dismissed by Inter Zaprešić at the end of a disappointing 2003/04 season, he returned with a bang to win the 2005/06 Prva Liga title with Dinamo Zagreb, schooling future Croatian internationals Luka Modrić and Eduardo in the process. • Sacked by Dinamo in November 2006, but not before becoming the first coach to take an overseas team to Arsenal FC's new stadium, in a UEFA Champions League qualifier. • Rwanda coach for two months from November 2007 to January 2008, he returned to international football in May 2009, replacing Dutchman Arie Haan to become the fifth successive foreigner to take charge of Albania. A 6-1 win against Cyprus in his third game in charge represented a record margin of victory for Albania. ►ANDORRA UEFA European Championship record P30 W0 D0 L30 F6 A88 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 6: P10 W0 D0 L10 F3 A39 Pts0 Just as in UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying, Andorra were in the same group as England and Croatia and they fared comparatively better – though they lost all four games, it was by a 14-0 aggregate this time rather than 21-0. In their second fixture against England in Barcelona, David Rodrigo's team held out for 48 minutes before falling to two Joe Cole goals. The closest they came to a point was against Belarus four days later when they were holding their opponents 1-1 until the 79th minute. That was as good as it got for a team later beaten 6-0 by both England and Ukraine. UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifying Group E: P12 W0 D0 L12 F2 A42 Pts0 Andorra opened with a 5-0 defeat by England at Old Trafford and worse was to follow a month later when Croatia put seven past them in Zagreb. Things improved for Rodrigo's minnows when they met England again in Barcelona in March 2007 – the locals keeping it scoreless until the 54th minute. England went on to win 3-0 but the positives gained from that match served the Andorrans well. Indeed an 82nd-minute equaliser scored by Fernando Silva away to Estonia that August would have brought them their first ever qualifying point but for Indrek Zelinski's winner in added time. UEFA European Championship best performance Andorra's best showing came during the UEFA EURO 2000 qualifiers. Although they failed to register a point in ten games, conceding just three goals in two qualifiers against eventual tournament winners France was deemed a huge feat for the team from the Pyrenean principality. That campaign also yielded their highest number of goals scored in a UEFA European Championship campaign, namely three. Key facts Andorra made their competitive international debut in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2000 and have lost all 30 European qualifiers. However, on 13 October 2004, they registered a historic milestone when they collected their first competitive international triumph with a 1-0 home win ►Armenia UEFA European Championship record P40 W7 D8 L25 F24 A61 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 5: P10 W1 D1 L8 F6 A22 Pts4 Armenia made a miserable start to their qualifying programme – losing their first four games with 12 goals conceded and just one scored. Although Gevorg Ghazaryan's late equaliser brought a first point at home against Estonia in March 2009, Danish coach Jan Poulsen had made way for Vardan Minasyan by the time Armenia lost the return fixture in Tallinn the next month – a result that virtually guaranteed them the wooden spoon. They finally gave their home supporters something to celebrate with a 2-1 win over Belgium in September 2009, courtesy of goals from Hovhannes Goharyan and the long-serving Sargis Hovsepyan, who reached the 100-cap milestone during the course of the campaign. UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifying Group A: P12 W2 D3 L7 F4 A13 Pts9 It was an emotionally draining campaign for Armenia’s footballers who achieved some commendable results but were left mourning their Scottish coach Ian Porterfield, who died in September 2007, less than three weeks after his team's 1-1 home draw with Portugal. Porterfield had guided his charges to successive wins over Kazakhstan (2-1) and eventual group winners Poland (1-0) that June and the Armenians would concede just three goals in six home games overall, including a draw against Serbia in their first fixture after their coach's passing. Armenia together with Azerbaijan played two matches fewer than the section's other sides after UEFA cancelled their two encounters following a disagreement over venues. UEFA European Championship best performance Armenia's best points-per-game ratio came in UEFA EURO 2004 qualifying when they beat Northern Ireland both at home and away and held Ukraine at home to finish fourth in their five-team group. They had their moments in UEFA EURO 2000 qualifying too when they also finished one off the bottom, achieving their biggest margin of victory in the competition with a 3-0 triumph in Andorra in October 1999, earning home draws with Iceland and Ukraine, and running eventual European champions France close in a 3-2 reverse in Yerevan. Key facts Armenia got the better of Belgium at the sixth time of asking with that 2-1 World Cup qualifying win in 2009. The countries had previously met on five occasions and Belgium had won each time, with Armenia not managing a single goal. Armenia's first international match was a goalless home draw with Moldova on 14 October 1992. Head coach: Vardan Minasyan Date of birth: 5 January 1974 Nationality: Armenian Playing career: FC Ararat Yerevan, FC Homenetmen Yerevan, FC Pyunik (twice), FC Lokomotiv St. Petersburg Coaching career: Armenia, FC Pyunik • A forceful midfielder, he spent the bulk of his playing career with Pyunik (formerly FC Homenetmen Yerevan), winning six Armenian championships with the club in two spells (1992- 97 and 2001-03). • Capped 17 times by Armenia between 1996 and 2003. • Began coaching career as an assistant both with Pyunik and Armenia; stood in as joint- caretaker for the latter following coach Ian Porterfield's death in September 2007 and was in sole charge for the country's final two UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers. • Assistant coach since 2005, he took sole command at Pyunik in May 2008 and led the club to eighth successive Armenian championship; stretched sequence to nine in his first full season at the helm in 2009 and also secured the domestic double by with victory in the Armenian Cup. • After previous experience with national team as caretaker, assistant and Under-21 coach, he was handed head role in April 2009 (in addition to his day job with Pyunik), replacing Dane Jan Børge Poulsen; led Armenia to their only 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying win – 2-1 at home to Belgium – five months later. ►AUSTRIA UEFA European Championship record Final tournament: 2008 P83 W33 D14 L36 F147 A128 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 7: P10 W4 D2 L4 F14 A15 Pts14 Austria finished third in Group 7 having begun their campaign with one of the surprise results in European qualifying, a 3-1 victory over 2006 finalists France in Vienna.