Ukraine reaches for the European Championship ticket
Red instead of equalizer: Georgia survives minutes of chaos
March 21, 2024, 10:48 p.m
The national football teams of Luxembourg and Georgia have never qualified for a European Championship. Therefore, the playoff semi-finals have a historical dimension. Georgia can celebrate at the end, thanks to a KSC professional and a referee who corrects himself.
Robert Lewandowski can still hope for his fourth European Championship participation in a row, Georgia can even hope for its tournament premiere: After the play-off semi-finals, only six teams are fighting for the last three tickets for the finals in Germany. For Israel and Luxembourg, among others, the dream ended. Lewandowski and Poland left nothing to chance in their 5-1 (1-0) win against Estonia. Ukraine, Greece, Iceland, Wales and Georgia, which has never qualified for a European Championship before, are also still in the race after victories on Thursday.
In Warsaw, goals from Przemyslaw Frankowski (22nd), Piotr Zielinski (50th), ex-Düsseldorf player Jakub Piotrowski (70th) and Sebastian Szymanski (76th) as well as an own goal from St. Pauli’s Karol Mets (73rd) ensured that the clear victory for the Poles, who had been extremely disappointing in the qualification with third place behind Albania and the Czech Republic. The white-reds will meet Wales on Tuesday in Cardiff, who beat Finland 4-1 (2-1). Only the winner goes to the European Championships.
Iceland also won against Israel 4-1 (2-1) after falling behind, with Albert Gudmundsson scoring three goals (39′, 83′, 87′). After the victory in Budapest, where the Israelis played their home game because of the war in Gaza, the quarter-finalists from 2016 can hope for their second European Championship participation. The ticket decision will be made in the duel with Ukraine, who won 2-1 (0-0) in exile in Budapest against Bosnia-Herzegovina thanks to a late brace from Roman Jaremtschuk (85th) and Artem Dowbyk (88th).
Meanwhile, Georgia can dream of their European Championship premiere thanks to Budu Zivzivadze from Karlsruher SC. The striker of the second division team scored a brace (40th/63rd) in the 2-0 (1-0) win against outsiders Luxembourg. The crux of the game in Tbilisi was the turbulent minutes after the break, when Gerson Rodrigues (52nd) initially managed to equalize for Luxembourg. Because there had been a foul on the other side shortly before that had initially gone unpunished, the referee, according to the TV images, took the goal back. Instead, Luxembourg’s Maxime Chanot was shown red and a little later the score was 2-0. The fight for the European Championship ticket will take place again on Tuesday in Tbilisi against Greece, which easily knocked Kazakhstan out of the race 5-0 (4-0).