The victory of Belarus, the draw of Kazakhstan and the defeat of Germany from the Netherlands: a review of Euro 2020 qualification matches

Offensive draw of Kazakhstan

The national team of Kazakhstan had an excellent chance to gain a foothold in third place in Group I of the Euro 2020 qualifying tournament. Thanks to the spring victory over Scotland, the easternmost team in the European Championship was ahead of the islanders in personal meetings, and could have come off by three points due to the defeat of the Scots in Glasgow in the match with the Russians the day before. However, it turned out only for one. The Kazakhstanis played away from Cyprus and were content with a draw.

The start of the match was successful for the guests. In the second minute, the combination started in the center of the field, which was completed by Alexei Shchetkin, wards of Michal Bilek. But the attempt to maintain a winning score did nothing good. Cyprus began to completely replay the opponent sitting in the defense and equalized at the end of the inning with the efforts of Pieros Sotiriou. After the break, the game of both teams was simplified, and dangerous moments began to arise only after standards and long-range strikes. Not a single national team won the victory, and in the end a draw was fixed, which for Kazakhstan can be called the loss of two important tournament points.

In group I, relations also found out San Marino and Belgium. The meeting predictably ended in the defeat of the dwarf republic. Misha Batshuayi, Dries Mertens and Nasser Chadley warmed up before the upcoming match with the Scots. The Belgians finished the first round of the qualifying tournament with an ideal five wins.

Noyer's record

The most interesting match of the day took place in Hamburg, where the German national team hosted the Netherlands. Both teams needed a victory to get to the leader in the group of Northern Ireland. The Dutch were especially motivated, since they had already managed to suffer a home defeat from the Bundesmanschaft.

For the wards of Ronald Kuman, the return game began disappointingly. Already in the ninth minute, Serge Gnabry finished off the ball after saving Jasper Sillessen. The Germans then gave the initiative, but the guests did not know how to take advantage of this for a whole half. Only after the break, when attacks from both sides began, did the Dutch begin to do something.

Jonathan Ta defender did a good job - at first he failed to beat Frankie de Jong, who scored one goal, and then the German player scored an own goal. The Netherlands national team would continue to score, but it was very inappropriate during one of the attacks that the ball fell into Matthews de Ligt's hand. Tony Kroos scored a penalty and regained his balance.

However, for the German team this goal did not change anything - it still played rather passively, and the holes in the defense did not go away. 12 minutes before the end, Memphis Depay quickly burst into someone else's penalty area and gently passed to Doniell Malen, who again led Holland forward. Joachim Loew did not have any substitutes for strengthening the squad, and his team could not get out of the critical situation.

The last straw was the goal of Jorginho Weinaldum in compensated time. Manuel Neuer first lost four goals in the official match for the German national team, which interrupted the winning streak in the selection for Euro 2020. For the Netherlands, this was only the second success, but they still have five matches ahead with less status rivals in the group.

The first victory of Belarus

For the Belarus national team, the qualifying tournament began frankly badly. After meeting with all the rivals in Group C, Michael Marhel’s wards were defeated in every game. Only with the start of the second round they were able to score the first points.

It happened in an away match with Estonia. The first time the team spent grinding in to each other, and then proceeded to design goals. Immediately after the break, Igor Stasevich and Stanislav Dragun created a dangerous moment at the gates of others, but in the end defender Nikita Naumov scored, who just struck his head. However, the leadership of the guests lasted only five minutes. Almost immediately, the Estonians escaped into a quick attack, which ended with Eric Sorghi hitting an empty net.

The rest of the time, the Belarusians diligently hit the opponent’s bars and bars, missing one moment after another. The curse ceased to operate only in the added three-minute period. Substitute Maxim Skavysh closed the pass of Sergei Matveychik in the fall and brought Belarus the long-awaited victory. True, it is unlikely to affect the tournament prospects of the team. It’s possible to get to the Euro only through the playoffs, in which the Belarusians will go as winners of their division of the League of Nations.

Defeat from vice world champions

In group E, a match was held for the right to share first place with Hungary. The national teams of Croatia and Slovakia, three points behind, challenged such an opportunity in Trnava. The home team did not succeed in opposing anything to the vice-champions of the world.

At the end of the first half, Nikola Vlašić scored a debut goal for his country, and after a break, the Croatian national team veterans organized the defeat of the Slovak team. Ivan Perišić immediately after returning to the field was marked by a long-range strike, Bruno Petkovich beat two defenders in the penalty area, and Dejan Lovren put an end to the 89th minute.

The Croats caught up with the Hungarians in points, but they still remain on the first line of the tournament table thanks to the victory in the first round. At the same time, the Welsh team caught up with the Slovak team, which was beaten at home by Azerbaijan, which did not score a single point.

The end of the Polish series

The Polish team did not succeed in joining Belgium, Spain and Italy, who won five out of five possible victories. The leaders of the group G went on a trip to Slovenia, where they unexpectedly lost with a score of 0: 2.

The Poles, led by Robert Lewandowski and Krzysztof Pöntek, managed to hit just one shot on goal from the wrong side during the whole match, while Lukasz Fabianski had to regularly jump for the ball from different directions. Twice the goalkeeper did not cope with his duties. Before and after the break, Aljaz Struna and Andraj Šporar distinguished themselves in the Slovenian team.

For the home team, this match was of great importance. They returned to the fight for a ticket to Euro 2020, reducing the gap from the second Austria to one point. Poland still leads, but the Austrians who defeated Latvia with a score of 6: 0, she wins only three points.