European Championship qualification
Scotland caused a surprise in the European Championship qualifier on Tuesday evening and beat Spain 2-0 (1-0) at home. The Scots are still in the lead in Group A thanks to a brace from Scott McTominay (7th, 51st) without losing a point or conceding a goal. Spain is three points behind in second place.
In the case of the Spaniards, the great personal shift after the 3-0 win against Norway on Saturday failed to have a positive effect. Team boss Luis de la Fuente made eight changes to the starting line-up in his second game as team boss, including replacing the entire line of defence. For the Spaniards it was only the second defeat in the last 39 European Championship qualifiers.
The Scots, on the other hand, extended their unbeaten run in the European Championship qualifiers to seven games. They celebrated their first win against Spain since a 3-1 win in World Cup qualifiers in November 1984. The Scots erupted in the packed arena in the seventh minute when McTominay scored from a cross from Andrew Robertson.
The 26-year-old Manchester United player didn’t give Kepa Arrizabalaga a chance. The Spaniards then had significantly more ball possession and also good chances of equalizing. The aluminum saved a Joselu header (23′), and Pedro Porro and Pino also lacked efficiency after half an hour. After the break, Marcel Sabitzer’s Manchester United club colleague McTominay made the preliminary decision after preliminary work from Kieran Tierney. McTominay had already celebrated a brace in the opening 3-0 win against Cyprus.
Norway remains without a win
Norway, meanwhile, remained without a win in their second game in Group A. Coach Stale Solbakken’s squad had to settle for a 1-1 (0-1) draw against hosts Georgia in Batumi. The Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was missing from every nook and corner of his team, as was the case with the opening 0: 3 in Group A in Spain, his colleagues around captain Martin Ödegaard missed a few great opportunities.
Alexander Sörloth (15th) gave the guests the lead, striker Georges Mikautadze (60th) secured a point for the Georgians coached by Willy Sagnol in their first game. Group A leads Scotland after two games with six points ahead of Spain (three). They are followed by Norway, Georgia (one point each) and bottom-placed Cyprus (zero).
Croatia gets first victory in European Championship qualifiers
In Pool D, World Cup semi-finalists Croatia corrected a half-miss from their home game against Wales (1-1) with a 2-0 win in Turkey. Mateo Kovacic scored both goals. Wales also have four points after beating Latvia 1-0. In Group I, Switzerland (3-0 against Israel) and Romania (2-1 against Belarus) still have the maximum number of points after two games.
