Austria averts disgrace
Bayern star ensures France’s dream start
03/27/2023 10:37 p.m
The DFB-Elf is certainly in the process of awarding the other 23 places for the EM 2024. Ralf Rangnick should lead Austria to the tournament, against Estonia the victory comes late. The Netherlands are struggling after the opening clap to win against Gibraltar, France narrowly wins in Ireland.
Thanks to Benjamin Pavard, France’s national football team has made a dream start to qualifying for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. The Bayern Munich right-back scored the winning goal in the 1-0 (0-0) win in Ireland. At the start of Group B, the Vice World Champion had defeated the Netherlands 4-0.
In atmospheric Dublin, the French had a hard time for a long time. But then Pavard (50th) put the ball from the edge of the penalty area right under the crossbar. Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani and Pavard’s Munich teammate Dayot Upamecano were also in the starting XI of national coach Didier Deschamps.
Thanks to the goals of two Bundesliga pros, the Austrians also achieved their second success in qualifying for the tournament in Germany. Florian Kainz (68th) from 1. FC Köln and Freiburg’s Michael Gregoritsch (88th) ensured the 2-1 (0-1) victory against the blatant outsider Estonia in Linz. Rauno Sappinen (25th) gave the guests the lead after Gregoritsch had previously missed a penalty.
Leipzig professional puts Sweden in the lead
The Netherlands struggled again in a 3-0 (1-0) win in Rotterdam against the football dwarf Gibraltar outnumbered to their first win. Memphis Depay (23′) and Nathan Ake (50’/82′) scored for Elftal, who still owed a lot after the red card against Liam Walker (51′). Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt was in the starting XI after recovering from a viral illness. France leads the group with the maximum number of points, with Oranje moving up to third place. Greece, who had no play, remain second.
Poland got their first win under new national coach Fernando Santos. Karol Swiderski (41st) scored the decisive goal in the 1-0 (1-0) win over Albania. Hungary also beat Bulgaria 3-0 (3-0), Serbia won 2-0 (0-0) in Montenegro with two late goals from Juve striker Dusan Vlahovic.
Sweden managed to make amends after losing 3-0 at the start against Belgium, and the Scandinavians clearly won 5-0 (1-0) against outsiders Azerbaijan, even without Zlatan Ibrahimović. Leipzig’s Emil Forsberg gave the lead in the 38th minute, followed by Bahlul Mustafazade (65’/own goal), Viktor Gyökeres (79′), Jesper Karlsson (88′) and Anthony Elanga (89′) for the final result. Belgium had no play after the opening win. On Tuesday (8.45 p.m. / RTL and in the live ticker on ntv.de) the Red Devils with national coach Domenico Tedesco will meet the German selection in Cologne.