Ehe day after the fire in the national stadium in Andorra, the European Championship finalist England has done its job against the team of the miniature state with ease. The runner-up European champions landed their sixth victory on Saturday with a 5-0 (2-0) win in the seventh game of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This means that the team of coach Gareth Southgate can hardly take victory in Group I. With 19 points three game days before the end of the qualification, England clearly lead the table ahead of Albania (15) and Poland (14). The goals for England were scored by Ben Chilwell (17th), Bukayo Saka (40th), Tammy Abraham (59th), James Ward-Prowse (79th) and Jack Grealish (86th)
The game was led by a female referee team, which was a first in the history of the England national team. The referee was the Ukrainian Kateryna Monzu, who only recognized the first goal after consulting video referee Stephanie Frappart (France).
It was only on Saturday morning that UEFA gave the green light for the game to take place after the tests had shown that the fire damage to the stadium could largely be repaired by kick-off. During the fire, the camera stage was shrouded in flames and black smoke.
Switzerland made a big step towards the play-offs. The Swiss won 2-0 (1-0) against the third-placed Northern Irish and thus expanded their lead to six points. Top of the table in Group C remains European champions Italy, who, however, have one game more than Switzerland.
Meanwhile, Serbia climbed to the top of the table in Group A. In Luxembourg, the team with Filip Kostic from Frankfurt scored 1-0 (0-0) to overtake Portugal with 14 points, which, however, still has one game up its sleeve. Denmark defended their flawless record with a 4-0 (4-0) against the Republic of Moldova. The EM semi-finalist has already secured the play-offs.
Forsberg paves Sweden the way to victory
Earlier in the evening Emil Forsberg took the lead in the World Cup qualifier for the Swedes in a clear 3-0 (1-0) over Kosovo. The RB Leipzig striker converted a penalty kick in the 29th minute. The alleged compensation by Vedat Muriqi was not given because of a previous offside position of the ex-Bremer Milot Rashica (58th). Shortly afterwards, Alexander Isak made it 2-0 (62nd), while ex-Mainz Robin Quaison made the final decision (79th). With twelve points in Group B, Sweden now moves up to one point on front runner Spain.
Emil Forsberg in the win against Kosovo
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Image: Reuters
Hoffenheim’s striker Munas Dabbur was successful for Israel on Saturday, but could not kidnap a point from Scotland in the 2: 3 (2: 1) with his team. Israel is now in third place four points behind the second-placed Scots, who only scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time through Manchester United’s Scott McTominay. The Scots had previously offset the guest tours by Eran Zahavi (5th) and Dabbur (31st) by John McGinn (29th) and Lyndon Dykes (55th). Dykes had previously failed with a penalty kick against Israeli goalkeeper Ofir Marciano (45th). Denmark remains the front runner in Group F with 18 points.
In Group D, Ukraine regained second place, which they had briefly lost to Bosnia-Hercegovina, thanks to a 2-1 (2-1) win in Helsinki over Finland. The ex-Dortmund Andrej Jarmolenko was already successful after four minutes with a 25-meter shot, Roman Yaremtschuk ensured the final score after 34 minutes. Previously, the ex-Schalke Teemu Pukki had equalized in his 98th international match. Lukas Hradecky and Joel Pohjanpalo from Leverkusen could not avert the second defeat of the now fourth-placed Finns.
The Bosnians had their first win thanks to two goals from striker Smail Prevljak (25th, 66th) with a 2-0 (1-0) win in Kazakhstan. This puts the team of the former Wolfsburg-based Edin Dzeko in third place with six points behind world champions France (12 points) and the Ukraine (8).
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