Triumph of Georgia
At the end of the semi-final play-offs, only one team, which had never previously qualified for the continental championship, still had a chance to qualify for Euro 2024. While Kazakhstan, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Luxembourg had finished the fight, Georgia had entered the decisive stage of Path C and was on the verge of a historic achievement. But in order to complete it, Willy Sagnol’s charges needed to defeat the 2004 winners, the Greeks. And they were also desperate to get to the European Championships, where they had not competed since 2012. It was then that the “Hellenes” beat the Russians in a dramatic confrontation and proceeded to the quarterfinals, and Andrei Arshavin uttered the famous phrase about “expectations and problems.”
Apparently, the burden of responsibility did not allow the opponents to show bright and sparkling football. Five days before, they scored seven goals between them, but this time they did not score in either regular or extra time. And even though they had as many as 29 shots on goal in total, only five hit the target, and most of them could not be considered dangerous at all. But if the Georgians, who had the advantage of their field, shot relatively often from outside the penalty area, the Greeks were forced to rely on long-range attempts. However, out of nine, only one reached the goalkeeper - in the 100th minute, Anastasios Bakasetas checked Giorgi Mamardashvili’s vigilance.
As for the truly striking episodes, they began to appear after 90 minutes. On the first compensated high serve, Fotis Ioannidis tried to close, and then the star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who missed the semi-finals due to disqualification, checked his aim for the first time. In total, he took three shots, but never hit the target, and in the 109th minute he was completely replaced due to injury. But the Napoli winger provoked a massive brawl on the field at the end of the first half, as a result of which the hosts' reserve goalkeeper Giorgi Loria received a straight red card.
Nevertheless, it was Sagnol’s players who had the chance to avoid the “lottery”. But first, former Rubin striker Zuriko Davitashvili was unable to cope with Odysseas Vlachodimos in close combat, and then Georgiy Tsitaishvili also failed to cope with this task. It seemed that the Greek goalkeeper had caught the courage, but in the series he was not so good and did not help out even once. Both teams had one penalty, and the key was Mamardashvili’s save after a shot from the same Bakasetas. Georgia gained the upper hand and qualified for the European Championship for the first time, where its group opponents will be Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
Wales' failure
In turn, 90 minutes was not enough for Wales and Poland to sort things out. And in this case, there was also tension with the joke, which especially concerned the guests. In 120 minutes, they made 11 shots on goal, but never hit the target. Robert Lewandowski was tightly closed and only touched the ball twice, and Jakub Piotrovsky threatened more often than the rest of Denny Ward's possessions - four times.
The Welsh were a little more accurate, but they still could not break through the massive defense of the Poles. And most of the chances were created during set pieces. Ben Davis and Kiefer Moore scored after the corners, Daniel James took the throw-in and Harry Wilson took the free kick. But gradual mistakes, coupled with the confident play of Wojciech Szczesny, made the hosts nervous even before the start of the series of penalty kicks. After all, how else to explain Chris Mepham receiving a second yellow card in the 121st minute.
As a result, at a key moment Wales lacked just a little composure and experience. The opponents executed the first four shots accurately, but while Krzysztof Piątek, who came to the point fifth, easily dealt with Ward, James became nervous and struck too “toothlessly” - not hard, not into the corner, and even at a convenient height for Szczesny. The Juventus goalkeeper helped out and brought Poland a ticket to Euro 2024, although it will not be easy for her there. After all, you will have to fight with France, the Netherlands and Austria to reach the playoffs.
Iceland's defeat
This time the Icelanders also acted on the defensive, as did the Poles, who were forced to play the finals away. And although they gained only 0.05 xG in the first half, they managed to go into the break as a leader. Albert Gudmundsson, who scored a hat-trick in the previous match, decided not to lower the bar this time and scored a miracle goal at the end of half an hour. The Genoa forward single-handedly dealt with several Ukrainians and irresistibly shot under the crossbar, leaving Andrei Lunin out of action.
However, Aage Hareide's men were not so coherent in defense, and parity could have been restored at the end of the first half if three Ukrainians had not immediately been offside in an episode with Roman Yaremchuk's ball. But in the second half, the hosts still achieved their goal, and they also distinguished themselves after long-range “hits”. In the 54th minute, Viktor Tsygankov drove low into the far corner, and half an hour later Mikhail Mudrik repeated the same trick. It’s all the more disappointing that shortly before this, the Icelanders had a couple of great chances, but Jón Thorsteinsson’s shot from the penalty line was miraculously parried by Lunin, and Gudmundsson, who was about to score a double, lacked a little accuracy.
Taking into account the added time, the guests had about ten minutes to get even, but they no longer had enough strength for the final spurt. Moreover, during this time they only made the opposing goalkeeper nervous once, but substitute Mikael Anderson failed to bring the ball to the target. Iceland suffered a disappointing defeat, and Ukraine qualified for the Euro. There she will meet with opponents in Quartet E - Belgium, Slovakia and Romania.