Kvaratskhelia's double, Kramarich's three assists and Pepe's removal: how the 9th round of selection for the 2022 World Cup started

Sensation in Batumi

The main sensation of the game day of the qualification of the 2022 World Cup was the defeat of the Swedish national team from the Georgian national team.

Willie Sagnol's wards generally unsuccessfully conducted the qualifying tournament and before that they scored only four points, but managed to loudly slam the door, and at the same time seriously complicated the life of their opponent.

The main hero of the confrontation was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Even if the technical winger in Rubin is not acting too brightly this season, he shows himself in all his glory under the flag of his native country.

In the second half, the midfielder took 17 minutes to score a double.

First, he finished off the ball into the net after a set piece.

And then, having received a pass almost in the center of the field, he managed to get away from five opponents, jump out one on one with Robin Olsen and realize the moment.

The Scandinavians failed the meeting.

If in the first half they still had the initiative and were close to opening an account, then after they looked faded.

Even though the guests struck two dozen blows, few of them turned out to be really dangerous.

And eight saves of Georgy Loria helped the hosts play to zero.

The Swedes gave Spain the opportunity to come out on top in the group ahead of the face-to-face meeting.

Humiliating defeat in Yerevan

Armenia, on the other hand, disappointed its fans.

The team got off to a great start to the tournament, scoring three victories in a row at the start.

However, in subsequent matches, she failed to get a single one and, as expected, lost the leadership in the group.

Despite this, on the eve of the home game with North Macedonia, the hosts kept good chances of hitting the joints.

To do this, they needed to win.

Joaquin Caparros' wards from the first minutes put too much emphasis on the attack, acting extremely carelessly in their own half.

As a result, they committed one blunder after another in defense.

Experienced goalkeeper David Yurchenko did not help either.

After the first half, the intrigue practically died.

Aleksandar Trajkovski and Enis Bardi distinguished themselves once.

The latter subsequently converted two penalties and scored the first hat-trick of his career.

After the break, the inferior team had no choice but to go forward and expose the rear.

The opponent took advantage of this with pleasure and brought the matter to a humiliating defeat - 0: 5.

Armenia suffered one of the biggest home defeats in history.

The Macedonians, on the other hand, became the favorite in the fight for a ticket to the joints thanks to the misfire of the main rival Romania, which went out of the way with Iceland (0: 0).

Confident rout in Ta-Kali

In general, the game day turned out to be rich in rout.

For example, within Group H, both Russia and Croatia managed to beat the rival.

Moreover, the current vice-champions of the world also won with a difference of six goals - 7: 1.

True, unlike Valery Karpin's charges, they allowed Malta to hit their own goal.

More precisely, Marcelo Brozovic scored his own in the middle of the first half and revived the intrigue.

And a little earlier, Jurgen Degabriela even managed to equalize the score, but the judges canceled the goal due to an offside position.

As soon as the outsider reduced the gap to a minimum, the favorite increased the momentum and even before the break brought the matter to a defeat - 4: 1. Immediately after the guests scored two more goals, and Zlatko Dalic removed three leaders from the field: Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Andrei Kramaric. The latter scored four points on the “goal + pass” system, having distinguished himself independently and assisting his partners three times. Finally, Lovro Mayer managed to arrange a double.

But the biggest victory on Thursday was achieved by Germany, which did not leave the slightest chance for Liechtenstein - 9: 0.

Initially, it was clear that the national team of a small principality would face a difficult meeting.

In addition, already at the ninth minute, she was left in the minority.

After that, the Germans literally mocked their opponent.

They managed to deliver 42 shots on goal, 21 of which were on target.

The outsider may even be glad that he ended up missing only nine times.

Fateful penalty in Athens

After the sensational defeat of Sweden in Batumi, Spain simply had no right not to take away three points from Athens, because the victory over Greece brought the Red Fury to the first place in the group. As a result, the fans gathered in the stands witnessed a rather boring game, the fate of which was decided by a penalty. In the middle of the first half, Iñigo Martinez was knocked down in someone else's penalty area on a corner, and referee Shimon Marcinjak pointed to the “point”. However, his verdict did not guarantee success for the guests, because before that they had not realized five penalty kicks in a row in all tournaments. The unpleasant streak was interrupted by Pablo Sarabia.

Even if in the future the Spaniards did not act too spectacularly, they owned the ball over 70% and did not allow the opponent to do anything.

The hosts struck only three hits and only one of them hit the target.

Unai Simon most of the confrontation had to be bored at the last line.

True, even with an equal score, the Greeks distinguished themselves, but the referee's team canceled the goal due to an offside position.

So the Spaniards took the lead at the finish line and now in the last round it is enough for them not to concede at home to Sweden to keep it.

Stupid deletion in Dublin

The Portuguese national team was in a similar situation.

Unlike her neighbors, she failed to defeat Ireland - 0: 0.

Serbia took advantage of it, which predictably turned out to be stronger than Azerbaijan and caught up with its competitor in the standings.

Fernando Santos' wards, on the other hand, did not have the strongest match.

The opponent, who had long lost the chances of getting to the World Cup, gave the favorite a fight at home with full stands.

Even if the guests had a little more possession of the ball, they rarely created really promising chances, and the opponent's counterattacks looked much more dangerous.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo this time found himself in the shadow of the defenders.

Perhaps he had only one chance to excel.

In the middle of the second half, after serving from the flank, the striker hit his head well, but the ball went near the far post.

Another veteran of the Portuguese, Pepe, was completely removed in the ending.

Only ten minutes was enough for the defender famous for his toughness to get two yellow cards.

He earned the first for stalling the attack, and the second for an elbow strike in the face.

So the team out of the blue lost one of the leaders.

Now, in the last round, Portugal and Serbia will hold a face-to-face confrontation in Lisbon for a direct ticket to the world championship.

Paradoxically, the misfire did not greatly reduce the chances of the “European Brazilians”, because according to the main criterion, if the points are equal, the goal difference, they are ahead of the competitor, and, therefore, they will still be satisfied with a draw.