Sensation in Azerbaijan, Slovenian goal in the 90th minute and Russia's assistance from Belgium: review of Euro 2020 qualification matches

Good day for De Bruyne

While the Russian team was frankly tormented in the game with Kazakhstan, the leader of qualifying group I, the national team of Belgium won another confident victory, which became her sixth in six qualifying matches. This time, the wards of Roberto Martinez did not leave stone unturned from strong Scotland. At home, the Scots managed to concede four unanswered goals.

At the same time, the hosts kept their goal intact only for eight minutes, after which the Belgians organized a quick counterattack, and Romelu Lukaku, breaking free of the rendezvous with the goalkeeper, scored the 49th goal for the national team.

Following before the break, Thomas Vermalen and Tobias Alderweireld managed to distinguish themselves. Both central defenders of the “Red Devils” successfully went to the corner. It is noteworthy that in all three goals of Belgium, Kevin De Bruyne scored with assists. And shortly before the end of the meeting, the Manchester City footballer managed to score on their own using the Lukaku discount.

“Match of life” from Azerbaijan

If the Russian team finally managed to squeeze Kazakhstan, then the Croatian vice world champions lost points in a match with another team from the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan. At the same time, wards of Nikola Yurchevich came up to confrontation with the “checkers” with a zero in the “scored points” column.

But the Croatian specialist managed to upset compatriots. And at first, nothing foreshadowed trouble for the venerable guests. At the very beginning of the meeting, they earned a penalty, which was realized by Luca Modric. After this, the Croats more than once could increase the advantage in the long run, but Emil Balaev acted above all praise at the last frontier.

However, in the second half, thunder suddenly struck for the silver medalists of the world championship. 20 minutes before the final whistle, outgoing substitute Tamkin Khalizade managed to break into the penalty area through several opponents at once and shot precisely into the near corner. Croatia had a lot of time to snatch the victory, but the team could not do it, moreover, Azerbaijan could well score the second goal.

Rehabilitation of Slovakia and goals of young talents

Extremely aggravated the situation in Group E and away victory of Slovakia over Hungary. The team of Pavel Gapal managed to recover after a humiliating home defeat from Croatia - 0: 4, although the opponent went up to face-to-face confrontation with a series of three victories in a row.

Moreover, the midfielder of the “Zenith” Robert Mack managed to open an account in the match. The player almost does not enter the field as part of St. Petersburg, but continues to lead the national team.

True, immediately after the break, Hungary returned to the game the exact blow of the young talent of Dominic Soboslai. At the age of 18, the Salzburg midfielder opened the scoring for the national team. But the last word still remained with the guests. Another young football player, 19-year-old Robert Bozhenik, brought victory to Slovakia and helped the team equal the number of points scored with Hungary.

Double football player Dynamo Kiev

Perhaps one of the most interesting matches of the game of the day took place in Ljubljana, where Slovenia accepted Israel. This meeting was key in Group G, because both teams came up to her, having the same number of points in the asset - eight each.

Moreover, the Slovenes began the qualifying stage extremely unsuccessfully, but then won two victories in a row, over Latvia and Austria. So in the match with Israel they managed to open an account in the end of the first half. The Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Benjamin Verbich scored.

However, immediately after the break, the guests literally turned the meeting upside down. First, the former gates of CSKA and Rubin Bibras Natho hit the gates of others, and then - the top scorer of the qualifying tournament Eran Zahavi. This goal was already the ninth for the striker, and in the sniper race he immediately by three exact hits ahead of Marco Arnautovich and Artyom Dziuba.

But the Slovenes managed to quickly even the score, and in the 90th minute they completely wrested the victory. Double designed the already mentioned Verbich. Thus, wards of Matyaz Kek won the third victory in a row and broke into second place in their group.

German class

In another match, Germany away won Northern Ireland with ease. Moreover, the latter approached the confrontation with the Bundestim in the rank of leader. In the first four meetings, they twice beat Estonia and Belarus, while the Germans a few days ago conceded four goals from the Netherlands.

Driven by their own fans, the Northern Irish began the match more than actively and in the first half they played with the venerable opponent truly on equal terms. In general, the match turned out to be quite bright, and dangerous moments arose both at one and the other goal. However, before the break, the account was never opened.

But at the very beginning of the second half, the favorite, as often happens, managed to score. After a shot from the flank and a rebound, Marcel Halstenberg sent the ball into the target from close range. So the defender of “Leipzig” managed to open an account with goals at the international level in just the third match for the national team.

And at the very end of the meeting, Germany doubled the score. Serge Gnabry fled to the rendezvous with the goalkeeper and sent the ball into the net. Thus, the Bundestim, due to the victory in the full-time match, managed to get ahead of Northern Ireland and break out to first place in the group.