The sensational defeat of England, Turkey's winning goal in the 90th minute and Ronaldo's masterpiece: review of Euro 2020 qualification matches

Czech sensational triumph

“On paper”, the Czechs were clear outsiders in the match with the British. In the first round of qualification, the wards of Yaroslav Shilgava allowed the ancestors of football to score five goals, while they themselves never hit the goal of Jordan Pickford. The fact that in the previous four meetings they invariably differed by at least four goals spoke in favor of the guests.

Already in the debut, it might have seemed that the match at the Eden stadium would not be an exception. Already in the fifth minute, Rahim Sterling was shot down in the opponent's penalty area, and Harry Kane confidently realized the 11-meter. This exact blow helped the British to come forward, and the Tottenham striker himself - to become just the fourth captain in the history of the team, scoring 20 or more goals. Before him, only Brian Robson, Alan Shearer, and Vivian Woodward succeeded.

However, this local success forced the guests to slow down, for which they soon paid. Just four minutes later, Ondrej Jaw made a pitch from the corner, and Jakub Brabets closed it with an accurate header. This failure was a real shock for the squad Gareth Southgate, in the first half, only four shots on goal. For comparison, the "people's team" chalked up six more attempts.

The second half took place in an equal fight for the small advantage of the hosts, which the judges favored a little. So, the team of Damir Skomina repeatedly did not notice a violation of the rules on Danny Rose and the same Sterling, which pretty much made the Manchester City midfielder crazy. And the main character was Zdenek Ondrašek, who appeared to replace him. The 30-year-old Czech distinguished himself with his first blow in the debut match for the national team and brought her the only victory in history in England. Shilgava wards scored 12 points and equaled the “Three Lions”, who suffered their only one defeat in the selection for the continent’s championship since 2007. Then they beat Croatia, and they eventually lost the ticket to the tournament in Russia.

Successful series of France

In the event of a defeat, the Icelandic national team almost lost the chance to win a direct ticket to Euro 2020. For three rounds before the end of the selection, France came off by six points and with additional indicators was guaranteed to be ahead of Eric Hamren's team. At the same time, there were practically no prerequisites for the success of the “Vikings”. Their unlucky series in the confrontation with the tricolor totaled 14 meetings (four draws, ten defeats), and the situation was worsened by the presence of the French team Steve Mandand. So, the current world champions did not lose if the goalkeeper of Marseilles came out from the first minutes.

The hosts' chances became even more illusory in the 15th minute when captain Johann Goodmundson left the field due to an injury. In his absence, they almost did not bother Mandanda, and their teammates had several excellent chances. So, Antoine Griezmann was noted as a dangerous blow from a turn, and at the end of half an hour the referee Gianluca Rocchi had every reason to point to the “point”. Kari Arnason hand interrupted the transfer of Olivier Giroud, but the Italian did not see a violation of the rules.

It is noteworthy that in the end the account was opened by the same Gira and it was from the penalty spot. Ari Freyr Skulason knocked down Griezmann in the penalty area, and the Chelsea forward sent the ball into the net from the 11-meter mark. Didier Deschamps wards won their fourth consecutive victory in qualifying and caught up with the sextet leader H.

The victory of Turkey and the historical success of Andorra

The Turkish team in a not-so-bright style beat the team of Albania. “Lunar stars” had a tremendous advantage, which clearly reflects more than double superiority in the number of shots on goal (18: 8) and the percentage of possession of the ball (61:39). True, they managed to translate it into goals only once and in the ending itself.

The game was replete with hard joints, which resulted in eight yellow cards, and its key episode was in the 90th minute. Irfan Jan did not perform the most aimed throw into the box, but his opponent defender helped. Ardian Ismayili threw the ball through his goalkeeper with an awkward movement, which Jenk Tosun took advantage of.

A much more significant event took place at the Nacional stadium, where the Andorran team interrupted its unbeaten streak in qualifying for the Old World Championship. To date, she has not known victories for 56 meetings in a row, while her last success in all tournaments was dated March 2018. Then the "postmen" prevailed over Lichtenstein. From that moment, they tied five times and suffered nine defeats.

In his field, the wards of Koldo Alvarez dealt with Moldova, and the author of the only goal was Mark Valès. The midfielder of the Norwegian Sannefjord scored in the 63rd minute - eight after their opponents were outnumbered. Forward Radu Ginsar received a second yellow card and was sent off.

Leadership of Ukraine

The Ukrainian team almost guaranteed a ticket to the European Championship. Andrey Shevchenko's team sorted out Lithuania without any particular problems and strengthened as leader of Quintet B. He has 16 points and a winning streak of five meetings.

The main creator of the yellow-blue success was the midfielder of the Italian Atalanta Ruslan Malinovsky, who clearly explained the existing interest in his person from the Moscow Spartak. First, together with Junior Moraes, he left the entire defense of the guests out of work, and then he meticulously performed a free-kick. The athlete scored the sixth scoring point, and the Ukrainian team once again kept its goal intact. At the moment, yellow-blue is not missed for 416 minutes.

Pursuit of Portugal

The current European champions continue the pursuit of Ukraine. After the success in the confrontation with Luxembourg, the wards of Fernando Santos are five points less, but there is one match left. Unlike their counterparts, the Portuguese lost four points at the start, but then won three victories with a goal difference of 12: 3.

In the reporting meeting, the leaders of the “European Brazilians” came to the forefront. Bernardo Silva scored himself and scored the fifth point for performance in the last three matches, Gonçalo Guesdes chalked up the second goal in the qualifying round, and Cristiano Ronaldo - sixth. Moreover, the Juventus forward became the author of the masterpiece, elegantly throwing the ball over the opponent's goalkeeper.

Thus, Ronaldo had nine goals in his last five matches for the national team. In addition to scoring six goals in three qualifying games, the striker scored three times in the semifinals of the League of Nations.