Thanks to a last-minute goal, the Netherlands have taken a big step towards the European Football Championship in Germany. Captain Virgil van Dijk scored a 1-0 (0-0) win in Greece with a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time on Monday. As a result, the Dutch moved up to second place in Group B and now have the ticket for the 2024 tournament in their own hands. In addition, Oranje have played one less game compared to the Greeks, who have the same points and are now in third place.
For a long time it had looked like a draw in Athens. Hoffenheim’s Wout Weghorst failed in the 27th minute with a weak penalty shot past former German U-21 goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. Overall, the Dutch didn’t make enough of their clear superiority; Steven Bergwijn (44th, 47th) also couldn’t overcome Vlachodimos and RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons (53rd) shot just wide.
In Group B, France had already secured their ticket to the European Championships last Friday. The vice world champion is the last qualifying opponent for Greece on November 21st. The Dutch still play against Ireland (18th) and Gibraltar (21st).
Another brilliant performance from superstar Ronaldo
Portugal had already secured their European Championship ticket before Monday evening, but also showed another brilliant performance thanks to superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The Seleção won 5-0 (5-0) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Double packer Ronaldo (5th/hand penalty/20th), Bruno Fernandes (25th), João Cancelo (32nd) and João Félix (41st) made everything clear before the break. For the 38-year-old Ronaldo it was already goals 126 and 127 in the national jersey. Portugal have won all of their eight qualifying games in Group J so far and have only conceded two goals out of 32 goals they have scored themselves.
Slovakia also took a big step closer to the European Championships with their 1-0 (0-0) win in Luxembourg. David Duris (77th) scored the decisive goal, meaning the Slovaks secured second place behind Portugal and extended their lead over third-placed Luxembourg to five points.
Daniel Meuren Published/Updated: , Published/Updated: 29 minutes ago Recommendations: 37 Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated:
The game between Sweden and Belgium in Brussels was abandoned after the first half when the score was 1-1. After the killing of two people of Swedish nationality not far from the stadium, the Swedish national players decided not to continue the game, according to the Swedish TV channel SVT. The Belgian national players would have joined in.
