Albania loses to France, draws with Romania

TIRANA, Oct. 11 – Albania lost to France on Friday 0-3 and drew 1-1 with Romania Tuesday in its last qualifiers for the Euro 2012. It remained last but one in the group ranking with only nine points.
In France goals from Florent Malouda and Loic Remy put the Group D pacesetters in control by half-time and Anthony Reveillere rounded off the win in the second half.
Albania had some good scoring opportunities with Gilman Lika, Odise Roshi, Elis Bakaj, Klodian Duro, Lorik Cana and Hamdi Salihi.
Srgian Luchin netted a late equalizer to earn Romania a draw from their Euro 2012 qualifying trip to Albania.
In a clash between two sides out of contention for a top-two finish, Albania put themselves on course to claim only a third win in Group D when Hamdi Salihi put them ahead in the 24th minute in Tirana.
Albania, looking to avenge a 6-1 thrashing by Romania during qualification for Euro 2008, held onto that lead until 13 minutes from time, but Luchin’s close-range finish drew Romania back on level terms and earned them a share of the spoils.
Albania ended second-bottom in the pool.
Unfortunately there was an incident after Romania’s scoring when Lithuanian referee Gediminas Mazeika called a brief halt to proceedings after home fans threw firecrackers on to the field, producing a thick blanket of smoke.
Two other things were to be mentioned after that qualifier: Croatian coach Josip Kuze is very likely not going to renew his contract with the federation and Tuesday’s qualifier was the last to be held at the old Qemal Stafa stadium, which is to be replaced by a new one.