Bale's hat-trick in Kazan, Jorginho's missed penalty in Basel and the defeat of Armenia: how the 5th round of selection for the 2022 World Cup ended

Wales win hard

The first match of the game day of the 2022 World Cup qualifying stage took place in Kazan. It is here at the Central stadium that the Belarusian national team decided to hold two September games because of the UEFA ban on flights to the country. On Sunday, a visit to Russia almost helped the neighbors score points in the confrontation with Wales. They had every chance of success, because the Welsh on the eve of the meeting experienced serious staffing problems: Tyler Roberts, Ethan Ampadu and Brandon Cooper did not receive visas, and several other players did not come due to injuries and coronavirus.

But Gareth Bale entered the field and led the team to victory. At the very beginning of the game, he earned a penalty and converted it himself. The Belarusians responded with two goals in two minutes in the middle of the first half. Vitaly Lisakovich was involved in both of them. First, the Lokomotiv striker shot from the penalty spot and then assisted Pavel Sedko.

However, after the break, the British managed to escape.

Once again, Bale came to the fore.

In the 69th minute, he converted another penalty, and in the 93rd brought a heavy victory to the guests.

After his not the most dangerous blow, the ball was not kept in his hands by Sergei Chernik.

Thus, the Real Madrid star not only distinguished himself in the national team for the first time in almost two years, but also scored a second hat-trick.

And after the final whistle, he criticized the state of the lawn at Tsentralny, stressing that it turned out to be “very soft and dry”.

Historical record of Italy

But Italy did not manage to snatch a victory over Switzerland on the road - 0: 0. The hosts took revenge for the defeat in the final stage of Euro 2020. The current break for the national teams' matches is generally not very successful for the reigning champions of the continent, because a few days ago they parted with Bulgaria - 1: 1. Squadra Azzurra is still in first place in Group C and is four points ahead of the Swiss, but they have two meetings in reserve and are ahead of the leader in terms of lost points.

Judging by the statistics, the favorite was supposed to celebrate the success in Basel, because the guests struck 11 shots, seven of which were on target (the opponent had two).

However, the real courage that evening was caught by Jan Sommer, who caught everything that flew into his gate.

What is it worth at least one moment at the beginning of the fight, when the goalkeeper did not allow Dominico Berardi to realize one-on-one.

True, right after the break, the forward corrected himself and earned a penalty.

However, Sommer rescued the team in this situation as well.

Jorginho also helped him, who shot weakly and almost in the center.

At the end of the meeting, Roberto Mancini could only complain that the ball simply did not want to go into the net.

Russian fans may note that the former helmsman of Zenit could not beat the ex-mentor of Spartak Murat Yakin.

The only pleasant moment for the Italian national team was the world record for the longest unbeaten run.

The reigning European champions did not know any misfires for 36 matches and rewrote the achievements of Brazil (1993-1996) and Spain (2007-2009), which were not inferior in 35 meetings in a row.

Lukaku Happy Anniversary

If Italy and Switzerland continue to fight for a direct ticket to the World Cup, then in Quartet E it is almost over.

Before the face-to-face match in Brussels, the Czech Republic lagged behind Belgium by only three points and, in case of victory, caught up with the hosts.

The team of Yaroslav Shilgava had the right to hope for a successful outcome, because the first meeting of the opponents in the framework of qualification in the spring ended in a draw (1: 1), and the favorite had to recoup.

However, this time the fight did not work, and the hosts opened the scoring already in the eighth minute.

It is symbolic that Romelu Lukaku distinguished himself, having played the hundredth game in the "Red Devils".

And this goal became for him 67th for the national team.

To top it all off, the main goalkeeper of the Czechs Tomas Vaclik was injured.

Jindřich Stanek was already conceding the two remaining goals.

To begin with, Eden Hazard, for the first time since November 2019, hit the opponent's goal in the national team jersey.

And then Alexis Salemakers scored his debut goal for the national team.

Moreover, the same Lukaku helped him to excel.

It is also necessary to mention Hans Wanaken, who twice assisted partners.

In total, his assets in the current qualification are seven points for performance (3 + 4).

According to this indicator, he bypassed even Lukaku (5 + 1).

Humiliating defeat from Germany

The defeat was recorded in the confrontation between Germany and Armenia.

Joaquin Caparros' wards started the qualifying stage perfectly and scored ten points out of 12 possible in the first four matches.

However, on Sunday, the Bundestim put the presumptuous opponent in place - 6: 0.

It makes no sense to describe in detail what happened in this meeting.

The Germans had an overwhelming advantage and could score even more.

They had possession 72% of the time and had 23 shots, 11 of which were on target.

The opponent's passive has 3 and 1, respectively.

The intrigue in this fight died already in the opening, when Serge Gnabry scored a double in ten minutes.

By the break, Armenia missed twice more, allowing Marco Royce and Timo Werner to excel.

Then Jonas Hofman scored a beautiful long-range strike - 5: 0.

After that, the favorite slowed down, but in the end he still made a tennis score.

It is gratifying that the goal was made by the players who can be safely called the future of the national team.

19-year-old debutant Karim Adeyemi upset David Yurchenko with the show of 18-year-old Florian Wirtz.

Thus, the Germans came out on top in Quartet J. The Armenian team dropped to second and are one point ahead of Romania.

Note that on the reporting game day, there were enough other major results.

So, Poland also defeated San Marino with a difference of six goals - 7: 1, and Adam Buksa scored a hat-trick.

In turn, the Georgian national team - 0: 4.

Finally, with a similar score, Andorra lost to England.

Historic event in Iceland

The Icelandic national team is unlikely to win the current qualifying tournament.

The fighting team, which recently fell in love with the fans at the World Cup in Russia, suffered three defeats in the first five matches and practically lost the chances of a trip to Qatar.

However, in the last two games of the team, there were truly historical events.

The first saw the debut of Andri Gudjohnsen, the son of local football legend Eidur Gudjohnsen, who currently works at the headquarters of the national team.

The father personally admonished his son before entering the field.

In the second, the 19-year-old striker of the Real Madrid farm club, Castilla, again came on as a substitute in the end, and two minutes later scored the first goal and saved the Icelanders from defeat.

Thus, the third generation of Gudjohnsen has already played in the national team. In 1996, Eidur made his debut, entering the game during the match with Estonia. Moreover, he replaced his father Arnor. Now he has passed the baton to Andri.