Fifth victories of Italy and Spain, Sochi player's goal, Greece's failure in Tampere: review of Euro 2020 qualification matches

Goal of Sochi player against Italy

The next selection stage for Euro 2020 started in Yerevan, where the Armenian team hosted Italy. The match started unexpectedly - Sochi striker Alexander Karapetyan shot into the far corner so that Gianluigi Donnarumma did not reach the ball.

But next time the striker distinguished himself already from the negative side. The first half did not end yet, as it had already been deleted for two yellow cards. The second violation for an alleged elbow hit by Leonardo Bonucci was not at all obvious, but Karapetyan left the minority in his minority team.

The Armenian team resisted for a long time, hoping to hook at least a draw, but still the guests were significantly stronger. At the 77th minute, Lorenzo Pellegrini easily won the fight for the ball against Ural defender Varazdat Aroyan, and after another three minutes Andrea Belotti scored a double just in case. Wards Roberto Mancini won five consecutive victories and confidently lead in group J.

Premier League goal of the month

The Armenian team remained in third place behind Italy and Finland, only now the lag behind the second line occupied by the Scandinavians has already grown by six points after their victory over Greece in Tampere.

Three points to the Finns brought the best player in August in the English Premier League Teemu Pukki. The Norwich striker, who scored five goals for the club in four games this season, extended the scoring series for the national team to three games. He scored the fourth goal in the selection after the Euro after a penalty kick in the 52nd minute. Pukki excelled for the 19th time for the national team, entering the top five of its top scorers.

In the next match, the Finns will host Italy and try to remove it from first place. However, for this, Pukki and the company will have to beat the “squadra azzurra” with a difference of more than two goals.

Victory in memory of daughter Enrique

The Spanish national team held its first match after Luis Enrique resigned as head coach and handed over powers to assistant Robert Moreno. For some time, the fans did not know the reason for the castling, but recently it became known. Enrique had a nine-year-old daughter, and she recently passed away due to bone cancer.

Moreno in his debut match brought the Spanish team to Romania, who shared the second place in group F with Sweden at this meeting.

Throughout the first half, the Spaniards dominated the field, and from the goal they were saved only by the excellent play of goalkeeper Ciprian Teterushana. But when a penalty was awarded at his goal and Sergio Ramos came up to the ball, the goalkeeper of Lyon turned out to be powerless. The captain scored the 21st goal in the Spanish national team and rose to tenth place among the top scorers in its history.

The Spaniards also scored from the game. At the beginning of the second half, Paco Alcácer closed the backache of Jordi Alba. But in the future, the Spaniards had to try to maintain the gained advantage. Soon, Galatasaray striker Florin Andone entered the field and it took him only three minutes to close the gap.

A few minutes later, the Romanians got a great chance for a draw. Diego Llorente made a foul of the last hope in George Puskas and left the field. However, in the final ten-minute period the goalkeeper Kep Arrisabalaga came to the aid of the Spaniards. Several times he saved the team from a sure goal, including in the last seconds of the compensated time. The Spanish national team, like Italy, won five of five possible victories.

Scandinavian defeat

The Swedes took advantage of the Romanians' failure to gain a foothold in second place in Group F. It was not difficult for the Scandinavian team to score three more points, as they met with the Faroe Islands team, which in the current selection for the Euro are even behind Malta.

Sweden won its biggest victory in the current qualifying tournament, scoring four unanswered goals. Already in the first 15 minutes, Real Sociedad midfielder Alexander Isaac scored twice, and before the end of the second half Victor Lindelöf from Manchester City and Robin Quayson representing Mainz scored. Krasnodar players Christopher Olsson and Marcus Berg spent all 90 minutes on the field, but didn’t even make assists for their partners.

Irish-Swiss Draw

In the central match of group D, the teams of Ireland and Switzerland met. The islanders outstripped their rival by six points, but at the same time they spent two more matches, which allowed them to lead in their quintet. After the game in Dublin, the difference in relation to the Swiss has not changed, since the meeting ended in a draw.

The guests had good chances to win. At the 74th minute, Fabian Scher opened the scoring, scoring for the national team for the first time in three years. From defeat, Ireland was saved by the 31-year-old Sheffield United striker David McGoldrick, for whom this goal was his debut in the national team. Both teams as a result did not suffer the first defeat in the qualifying tournament, but the Danish national team continues to be between them, which defeated Gibraltar in their match with a score of 6: 0.