The misfire of Portugal, the victory of Spain and the leadership of Georgia: what are the memorable matches of the League of Nations

Incredible Omlin Match

In the strongest division, two matches in group 2 took place the day before, which confused the position in the standings to the limit.

Portugal finished the first lap at the top with a two-point lead over Spain.

At home, she managed to get the better of the Czech Republic, which shortly before that had almost beaten the “red fury”.

Wards of Fernando Santos twice upset the opponent.

Moreover, both Joao Cancelo and Gonzalo Guedes assisted Bernardo Silva.

However, just a few days later, the leader sensationally lost on the road to Switzerland, which scored four unanswered goals at home.

The reason was largely the large-scale rotation started by the coaching staff: Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Moutinho and Rafael Guerreiro did not even get into the application.

At the same time, the mentor emphasized that all three are healthy.

And the leading strikers Silva and Diogo Jota were left on the bench.

Without them, the guests conceded in the first minute.

After Silvan Widmer's serve from the right flank, no one prevented Haris Seferovic from hitting his head accurately.

And soon the referee Fran Jovic awarded a penalty to the favorite for handballing Nuno Mendes.

But, after watching the replay, the referee changed his decision, because a little earlier Niko Elvedi fouled Andre Silva.

In the future, the Portuguese had a serious advantage and did everything to level the score.

In the second half, Santos threw Silva and Jota into the fight.

The guests struck two dozen shots on the hosts' goal, almost half of which hit the target, but could not break through Jonas Omlin, who caught the courage.

Only Rafael Leau managed to do this, but his goal was canceled due to a clear offside.

So the Alpines not only scored the first points, but also interrupted a three-match losing streak in confrontations with this opponent, one of which was in the semi-finals of the League of Nations in the 2018/19 season.

Important goals for Sarabia

Spain took advantage of the misfire of the main competitor and came out on top.

Wards Luis Enrique started the tournament is not the best way.

First, they parted ways with Portugal - 1:1, and then almost lost to the Czech Republic - 2:2.

The position of the group became threatening.

But then he won two victories in a row over rivals inferior in class - Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

And in both meetings, Pablo Sarabia came to the fore.

In Lancy, he scored the most important single goal already in the 13th minute, closing the cross from Marcos Llorente from the front.

And in Malaga, he managed to put an end to the game with the Czech Republic.

Closer to the final whistle, the striker again demonstrated an amazing scoring instinct and scored a shot from a couple of meters.

Opened the same account in the middle of the first half, Carlos Soler.

And Sarabia demonstrates high performance at the international level, because in three years in the national team he scored nine, although he does not always get into the base.

It should be noted Unai Simon, who twice played to zero.

Moreover, in the second confrontation, the Czechs periodically ran into dangerous counterattacks and created chances, but they failed to break through the Athletic goalkeeper.

The amazing power of Holland

In League B, the Norwegian national team, playing in the quartet 4, came closest to entering the elite division. After defeating Sweden (3: 2) and a draw in the confrontation between Serbia and Slovenia (2: 2), they broke away from the closest pursuer by three points.

The team owes such results to Erling Haaland, around whom the whole game is built.

The forward left the field without a goal in only one meeting of the tournament, with Slovenia, and it ended for the Scandinavians in the world - 0:0.

But he scored the only goal against the Serbs and scored a double in the Scandinavian derby, allowing the Stole Solbakken team to upset the neighbors twice in a row in eight days.

In the second match, the Manchester City striker closed the supply from the flank already in the tenth minute, and immediately after the break he converted a rather controversial penalty.

Finally, in the end, he scored an assist on Alexander Serlot.

Now the young football player is leading in the race of scorers of the League of Nations, one accurate blow ahead of the Turk Serdar Dursun.

And the statistics of Haaland's performances for the national team is simply amazing: in 21 matches, he scored 20 times.

A small miracle from Sagnol

In the third strongest division, the Georgian team is a pleasant surprise, which is confidently leading in group 4 and is one step away from promotion.

In the first round, Willy Sagnol's wards defeated all rivals.

In particular, North Macedonia, a participant in the final stage of Euro 2020, was defeated in Skopje - 0: 3.

Once again, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia did not leave the field without a goal, having distinguished himself in the third meeting of the tournament in a row.

The Bulgarians managed to bring down the powerful tread of the Caucasian team on the road, who missed five from him at home.

At the same time, immediately upon arrival in Tbilisi, the guests got into a serious accident.

The bus carrying the team collided with another car.

Botev midfielder Todor Nedelev suffered the most.

The athlete received a head injury, and glass fragments hit his eyes.

The young man underwent emergency surgery.

Despite this shocking incident, Georgi Ivanov's wards managed to pull themselves together and defended a goalless draw.

However, it was not without a serious share of luck, because the opponent missed a lot of dangerous moments.

For example, Kvaratskhelia in one of the episodes threw the goalkeeper, but the ball was taken out of the line by the defender.

The guests only shot three times in the direction of other people's gates and once - on target.

Now the gap between Georgia and the closest pursuer, the Macedonians, has been reduced to three points, but they extended their unbeaten streak in all tournaments to nine matches.

Moreover, in seven of them the team managed to win.

Curious ball of Mantalos

And the first team to secure a promotion was Greece.

After the defeat of the neighbors from Cyprus, the Greeks needed to beat Kosovo at home in order to guarantee themselves the first line.

And the hosts coped with this task, upsetting the guests twice.

But local fans had to get nervous.

Despite a serious advantage, the ball did not go into the opponent's goal.

The Kosovars defended in full force and acted as selflessly as possible.

Successful substitutions helped finish off the opponent.

The first goal was organized by Petros Mantalos and Georgios Yakumakis, who appeared on the field in the second half.

The first one performed an excellent cross from the left flank, and the second one jumped higher than everyone else and cut the projectile into the far corner with his head.

And on the ninth added minute, the wards of Primoz Glikha conceded a curious goal.

Even the goalkeeper Arjanet Muric went to serve the last standard, for which the team paid the price.

The "Greeks" organized a swift counterattack, which was completed by Mantalos.

Moreover, the forward literally gnawed the ball from the opponent and sent it to an empty target.

After that, all the Greek football players and coaches ran onto the field, celebrating the long-awaited success and promotion to the B division.