Many favorites wins in European Championship qualification
Record-breaking teenager scores on his debut for Spain
September 8, 2023, 11:16 p.m
There are several favorites to win in the European Championship qualification. Turkey, on the other hand, is stumbling against Armenia. And Spain celebrates the youngest international player in the country’s history in their resounding win against Georgia – who also scores a goal.
Spain, Portugal, Croatia: The favorites did not show any weakness on the way to the 2024 European Football Championship and all achieved victories in qualifying. Coach Stefan Kuntz had to accept a setback with the Turkish national team, but at least he celebrated a late goal in the 1-1 (0-0) draw against Armenia. Turkey will initially remain first in qualifying group D.
Croatia, third in the World Cup, is hot on Turkey’s heels. Thanks to the confident 5-0 (3-0) against Latvia with a goal from Andrej Kramaric (68th), the team moved within three points of Turkey. With the advantage that Croatia has played two fewer games than the competition. Bertug Yildirim (88th) saved the point for the Kuntz team. The third-placed Armenians took the lead through Artek Dashjan (49th).
Spain may not be first in Group A, but they still had every reason to celebrate: the ex-European champions impressed with a 7-1 (4-0) win in Georgia – and also had a record debut with them. At the age of just 16 years and 57 days, Lamine Yamal became the youngest Spanish international in history, and that’s not all: the FC Barcelona attacking player promptly scored a goal (74′). Three-packer Alvaro Morata (22nd, 40th, 66th) was happy to leave the big stage to Yamal.
However, the benchmark in Spain’s group remains Scotland: The 3-0 (3-0) win in Cyprus was the fifth win in the fifth qualifying game – with a goal difference of 12:1, Scotland is clearly on course for the Euros. And: Steve Clarke’s flawless team also beat Spain (2-0) in March.
Portugal has so far mastered the European Championship qualification just as confidently. Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. won the top game of Group J in Slovakia 1-0 (1-0) and are clearly ahead of Slovakia with five wins from five games (15-0 goals). The match winner of the 2016 European champion was not Ronaldo, but Bruno Fernandes (43rd), who met a pass from Bernardo Silva on his 29th birthday.