- England beat Italy 3-1 at home in Group C and qualified for the 2024 European Championships in Germany.
- Ukraine stays on Italy’s trail thanks to a 3-1 win over Malta.
- In Group G, Hungary missed a match point, but still managed a draw after trailing 2-0 against Lithuania.
- Denmark and Slovenia move away from Group H.
Group C: England are through
England has qualified early for the 2024 European Championship in Germany. Gareth Southgate’s team can no longer be pushed out of first place thanks to their 3-1 win against Italy. In an extremely entertaining game at Wembley, the guests initially took the lead. Gianluca Scamacca completed a nice combination on the right wing to make it 1-0. The guests also had several good scoring opportunities afterwards. The next goal went to the “Three Lions”. After Jude Bellingham was brought down by Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the penalty area, Harry Kane confidently converted from the penalty spot. After a picture-perfect counterattack by Marcus Rashford to make it 2-1, Kane went one better and scored to make the final score 3-1 (77th). These were goals 60 and 61 in the 87th international match for the star striker.
Italy must therefore continue to fear participation in the European Championship. The “Squadra Azzurra”, which is currently again is hit by a betting scandal, has – in one fewer game – 3 points less than Ukraine.
The Ukrainians scored a 3-1 compulsory win against Malta. The game started with a shock for the favorites: Joseph Mbong surprisingly gave Malta the lead in the 12th minute. A curious own goal from Ryan Camenzuli brought Ukraine back into the game a few minutes before half-time. Artem Dowbyk (43′) and Mychajlo Mudryk (85′) finally turned the game around.
Group G:
Hungary surprisingly gave up in Lithuania. After a 0-2 deficit, Barnabas Varga saved the group leaders the draw in the 82nd minute. Liverpool attacker Dominik Szoboszlai had previously scored the goal from the penalty spot. Hungary is 6 points ahead of third-placed Montenegro with two rounds to go and can secure its European Championship ticket in the next game against Bulgaria.
- Serbia – Montenegro 3:1
In Belgrade, Serbia took a big step towards qualifying for the European Championship. Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is active in Saudi Arabia, put his stamp on the game with his fourth and fifth goals in the current campaign. Already in the 9th minute he scored the 1-0 lead from the outside of his foot. Montenegro captain Stevan Jovetic equalized just as beautifully to make it 1-1 before the break. With a double strike between the 73rd and 77th minutes, Mitrovic and Dusan Tadic broke the outsider’s resistance. Serbia has moved within one point of leader Hungary, but has played one more game.
Group H: Slovenia and Denmark at the top
- Northern Ireland – Slovenia 0-1
Slovenia continues to lead the Group H table. Against Northern Ireland, a remarkable goal from Adam Gnezda Cerin in the 5th minute was enough for the 3 points.
- San Marino – Denmark 1:2
Like Slovenia, Denmark also took a big step towards the European Championship thanks to a narrow away win in San Marino. The 1992 European champions had to bite for a long time, Yussuf Poulsen’s winning goal only came in the 70th minute.
- Finland – Kazakhstan 1:2
Finland lost a 1-0 lead at home against Kazakhstan. After Robert Taylor had given the home team the lead with a free kick goal in the first half, Kazakhstan managed to turn things around in the final phase through Baqtijar Sainutdinow: In the 77th minute, the Besiktas Istanbul player scored from a penalty before giving his team a goal secured victory in the 89th minute. The Kazakhs are thus preserving their chance of qualifying for the European Championship for the first time.