Netherlands victory in the end, Belgium nine goals and Lewandowski hat-trick: review of Euro 2020 qualification matches

The nature of the "orange"

The main sensation of the gaming day almost happened in Rotterdam. The Netherlands team was very close to losing the home of Northern Ireland, but showed character in the end. Militant guests came to the favorite in the first place to defend themselves and most of the meeting successfully completed the task.

Moreover, 15 minutes before the final whistle, a rare outing of the Irish ended in a goal. The hosts failed to knock the ball out of their own penalty area and presented it to the opponent. As a result, the goalkeeper's serve instantly followed, and who replaced nine minutes before Josh Majennis won the fight in the air from the defender and sent the shell into the net.

But the "orange" saved the team leader Memphis Depay. He quickly equalized, and in the added time put an end to the confrontation. The winning ball was chalked up by Luc De Jong. Now in group C Germany, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland have 12 points each, but the latter have one more game.

Nine balls of Belgium

Meanwhile, the first team to guarantee a ticket to the final stage of Euro 2020 was the Belgian team. The “Red Devils” at home, as expected, left no chance for San Marino. Nine unrequited balls flew into the gates of the Sammarians. The double scored for Romela Lukaku, who now has 49 goals in his national team shirt.

Following Belgium, Russia could also have gone on to a major tournament if Kazakhstan drew with Cyprus. And six minutes before the final whistle, two “units” were burning on the scoreboard of the stadium in Nur-Sultan, but in the end the guests unexpectedly managed to wrest a strong-willed victory thanks to the exact blow of Nicholas John. Now, ward Stanislav Cherchesov in order to solve the problem, it is enough to play the next match with Cyprus at least a draw.

Lewandowski Day in Riga

And, perhaps, the main character of the gaming day was Robert Lewandowski. Bayern striker managed to get a hat-trick in the match with Latvia and thereby significantly bring the Polish national team closer to the Euro 2020 entrance. Moreover, the striker twice scored already in the 14th minute, after which the intrigue regarding the result of the meeting disappeared. And shortly before the final whistle, Robert managed to send the third goal into the goal of the Baltic states.

Now Lewandowski, who has long been the champion of his team in terms of goals, has already listed 59 goals in the national team’s shirt. And the start of the season is incredibly successful for the striker. In 14 matches in all tournaments, he scored 18 times already.

It is gratifying that two football players of the Moscow Lokomotiv, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Maciej Rybus, took a direct part in the defeat of the Baltic states. Both were in the starting lineup. Grzegorz played the whole match, and Rybus was replaced shortly before the final whistle.

Zahavi's tenth goal

However, the best scorer of the qualifying round at the moment is not Lewandowski and not even Artyom Dziuba, but Israel striker Eran Zahavi. In the most important away match for his team with Austria, the forward of the Chinese “Guangzhou” scored the tenth goal in the qualification.

Moreover, the goal of Zahavi turned out to be very beautiful. He received a transfer not far from someone else's penalty area and, having deceived the defender, shot right into the near corner with a rebound from the bar. The goalkeeper in this situation was powerless.

Unfortunately for the guests, this goal did not help Israel score any points. Shortly before the break, Valentino Lazaro equalized, and in the second half, the exact blows of Martin Hinteregger and Marcel Zabitzer brought the hosts a strong-willed victory and greatly complicated the opponent’s position.

Rout from Croatia

Finally, another defeat was recorded in Split, where the Croats unexpectedly easily broke the resistance of Hungary. Guests in the first half managed to miss three times and actually “laid down their arms”. As part of the hosts, the double was designed by the forward of Dynamo Zagreb Bruno Petkovic, who spent only the sixth match for the national team.

In addition, Ivan Perisic in the second half did not realize a penalty, and the Hungarians remained in the minority after the removal of Laszlo Kleinheisler. CSKA fans probably were satisfied with the exit to replace Nikola Vlasic shortly before the final whistle.