From left, Artur Craciun of Moldova and Nicola Zalewski of Poland during the UEFA European Football Championship 2024 qualification match, June 20, 2023, in Chisinau.
Prague – Polish footballers unexpectedly lost 2:3 in Moldova, despite leading by two goals at half-time, falling to the penultimate place in qualifying group E for the European Championship 2024 in Germany and they are already four points behind the leader Czech Republic. They are only one point behind coach Jaroslav Šilhavy's selection of Albania after a 3-1 victory in the Faroe Islands. Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in history to play his 200th international match and scored the final goal for Portugal in a 1-0 win in Iceland.
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The favored Poles played the match in Chisinau promisingly. First, Milik scored after Lewandowski's pass, and then the Barcelona gunner himself established himself. But for Moldova, which drew goalless at home with the Czech Republic in March, Nicolaescu scored at the beginning of the second half, the same player then equalized in the 79th minute, and Baboglo completed the surprising turnaround in six minutes.
The Moldovans won for the first time in the group and are losing two points to the Czech Republic. As the only ones in the group, they have already played four matches. Poland lost the second of three matches in the qualification, losing 1:3 to the Czech Republic in Prague in March.
The duel between Iceland and the Portuguese was headed for a goalless draw. In the 81st minute, home player Willumsson was sent off after a second yellow card, and the guests took advantage of the power play thanks to Ronaldo. His shot was still reviewed by the video referee. The 2016 European champions also won their fourth qualifying match and lead Group J by two points ahead of the Slovaks, whose 1-0 triumph in Liechtenstein was set up by Vavro in the opening act.
Surprisingly, three points behind Slovakia is Luxembourg, which won the qualification for the second time in a row and again 2:0. After Saturday's home triumph over Liechtenstein, they succeeded in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the same ratio.
Thanks to two goals from Baumgartner in the last ten minutes, Austria beat Sweden 2:0 in Vienna and continues to lead Group F by three points ahead of Belgium, who have a match for good. The Belgians won 3:0 in Estonia, Lukaku scored two goals within three minutes at the end of the first half, Bakayoko sealed the result.
Norway beat Cyprus 3:1 at home. Haaland scored twice in quick succession in the second half. The first goal was scored by the Manchester City gunner from the penalty spot.
The second match of group A Scotland – Georgia is in progress. With the score 1-0 for the home team, it was interrupted for more than 90 minutes in the 11th minute due to waterlogged ground.
Hungary beat Lithuania 2-0 in Budapest and are first in Group G by a score ahead of Serbia, who deserve substitute Lazovic's goal in the sixth minute of regulation earned Bulgaria at least a point for a 1:1 draw.
