The world champion stumbles in the World Cup qualification, Oranje coach Louis van Gaal lands his first victory, and Austria goes under in Israel. The results at a glance.
The World Cup qualification reached its halftime on Saturday evening with numerous competitive games. The French in particular have disappointed once again, in the Ukraine the defending champion didn’t get past 1-1 (0-1) – and is still at the top of Group D.
Ukraine had taken the lead through Mikola Schaparenko (44th), Anthony Martial (50th) equalized. With 9 points, France are now ahead of Finland and Ukraine (both 5) – but the Finns have played two games less. Thanks to a goal from Bayer Leverkusen’s Joel Pohjanpalo, they won 1-0 (0-0) against Kazakhstan.
For Louis van Gaal there was the first success in the second game after his return as bond coach of the Netherlands. The important 4-0 (1-0) against Montenegro shot out Memphis Depay (38th, penalty / 62nd), Georginio Wijnaldum (70th) and Cody Gakpo (76th). Oranje is now in second place in Group G – with 10 points, however, level on points with Norway, which, led by goalscorer Erling Haaland, won 2-0 (1-0) in Latvia. Both are just behind Turkey (11), which prevailed 2-0 (0-0) against the pointless football dwarf Gibraltar.
Austria goes under
Austria had a bitter evening in Israel. The team of German coach Franco Foda lost 2: 5 (1: 3) and fell back in Group F to fourth place. Front runners Denmark (15 points) took their fifth win in their fifth game and won 1-0 (0-0) against outsiders Faroe Islands without a glimpse. Israel (10) now follows in second place, Scotland (8) is third after beating Moldova 1-0 (1-0). Only behind are the Austrians.
Manor Solomon (5th), Hoffenheim’s Munas Dabbur (20th), Eran Zahavi (33rd / 90th) and Shon Weissman (58th) scored for Israel, who only had to shoot four times for the first four hits. Austria, on the other hand, scored 19 shots on goal at the end, had numerous top-class chances, but was only successful through Hoffenheim’s Christoph Baumgartner (42nd) and ex-Bremen’s Marko Arnautovic (55th).
In Group A, Serbia won 4-1 (2-0) against Luxembourg and now leads the table in front of the Portuguese (both 10) with equal points. Portugal had no game and won a test against World Cup hosts Qatar 3-1 (2-0) on Saturday. At the top of Group H, Russia and Croatia are still tied (both 10). Russia won 2-0 (1-0) in Cyprus, Croatia prevailed 1-0 (0-0) in Slovakia.
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