Euro 2016 Qualifiers Scores & Highlights: Cristiano Ronaldo Bails Out Portugal With Last-Minute Goal, More
Cristiano Ronaldo had to bail out Portugal with a late goal against Denmark, Germany continues to struggle -- this time against the Republic of Ireland -- while the Serbia-Albania game had to be postponed due to political tensions in Tuesday Euro 2016 qualifiers action.
Ronaldo nailed Ricardo Quaresma's cross into the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time in the second half, giving Portugal their first win in the qualifiers. Portugal has struggled early in the tournament, losing to Albania, the leaders in Group I, in their opening game, which cost Paulo Bento his job as head coach. Portugal now moves up to third place in the standings.
Albania, with four points after defeating Portugal and earning a point after a 1-1 draw with Denmark, had their game postponed after political tensions flared up in their match against Serbia when a drone carrying an Albanian banner accompanied with a map of Kosovo with the message "autochthonous"--which means indigenous--flew over Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. Serbian defender Stefan Mitrovic took down the banner which lead to a scuffle between Serbian and Albania players as fans rushed the field.
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Inexplicably, UEFA grouped Serbia with Albania, keeping certain match-ups away from one another such as Ukraine and Russia or Spain and Gibraltar due to political issues, despite a longstanding disagreement over Serbia's refusal to recognize Kosovo as an independent country.
"It is a regretful situation on which we will report; the referee, myself and the security adviser. The circumstances were such that we couldn't continue the match," said UEFA match delegate Harry Been to BBC News. "You all saw what happened and I cannot comment on who is to blame or what to blame. I will submit a report with my colleagues to UEFA and UEFA will decide what will happen further."
Serbia vs Albania
World Cup winners Germany, who lost to Group D leader Poland (with seven points) on Saturday, played to a 1-1 draw against second place team Republic of Ireland (who have seven points) after Sunderland's John O'Shea tied the game sneaking the ball past German keeper Manuel Neuer 3 minutes into stoppage time of the second half. Germany falls to fourth place in Group D looking to catch up to third place Scotland - who earned a point in the draw against Poland.
In Monday's Euro 2016 qualifier action, Italy continues to roll beating Malta, the Netherlands were upset on the road in Reykjavik while Norway's Martin Odegaard made history, becoming the youngest player to ever play in the tournament's qualifiers.
The Netherlands' Stefan de Vrij committed a foul on Birkir Bjarnason in the box in the ninth minute of the match, which allowed Swansea City midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson to score on a penalty kick to stun the Dutch with an early lead. Sigurdsson would notch the second goal of the day right before the half after the Dutch failed to clear an Iceland corner kick, allowing Sigurdsson to extend the lead to 2-0.
Iceland would hold on to win, taking the lead in Group A with nine points, followed by the Czech Republic in second place with nine points, and the Dutch surprisingly stuck in third place with three points.
Norway defeated Bulgaria 2-1, with Tarik Elyounoussi opening the scoring for Norway beating a defender and Bulgarian keeper Nikolay Mihaylov in the 13th minute to put Norway up 1-0. Bulgaria's Nikolay Bodurov would tie the game with a header past Orjan Haskjold Nyland in the 43rd minute of the game before Havard Nielsen would nail the game-winner for Norway after catching the defense off-guard in the 71st minute to win 2-1.
Odegaard, who plays for Norwegian club Strømsgodset IF, entered the game in the 63rd minute to become the youngest player to play in a Euro qualifier at the age of 15 years and 300 days. Odegaard, who is being compared to the likes of Lionel Messi at that age, has drawn scouts from from Manchester City, Manchester United and Barcelona interested in signing the teenager.
Norway is third in Group H, behind second place Italy -- who defeated Malta thanks to Southampton's Graziano Pelle who scored in his Italian national team debut capitalizing on Malta's defensive breakdown on a corner kick in the 24th minute of the game. The win by Italy pulls them even with first place Croatia, who has nine points in Group H.
Sunday saw many of the favorites to advance to victory in their Euro 2016 qualifier matches, with Spain hammering Luxembourg, England defeating Estonia, and Sweden winning despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic still out of action.
Erkan Zengin opened the scoring for Sweden, arcing a shot over Liechtenstein keeper Cengiz Bicer. Jimmy Durmaz capitalized on Bicer's mistake in the the 46th minute, putting the ball behind the net after the Liechtenstein keep could not clear the ball out of the box, sealing the win for Sweden 2-0, as the team awaits the return of their top scorer, Ibrahimovic who has missed action with both Paris St-Germaine and the Swedish national team recovering from a heel injury. Sweden is in third place in Group G with five points, keeping them on pace with Russia -- who also has five points after tying 1-1 with Moldova, and group leader Austria, who defeated Montenegro 1-0.
Spain punished Luxembourg with NYCFC's David Silva, Valencia CF's Paco Alcacer, Chelsea's Diego Costa and Bayern Munich's Juan Bernat all scoring for Vicente del Bosque's squad. Spain, who is second in Group C, is trying to stave off third place Ukraine -- who beat Macedonia 1-0 -- while trying to catch up to group leader Slovakia. Slovakia traveled to Minsk on Saturday, beating Belarus 3-1 to maintain their surprising lead over Spain.
Luxembourg vs Spain
Despite the controversy surrounding the benching of Liverpool's Raheem Sterling after saying that he was tired, England managed to keep their heads on the road, winning 1-0 at A. Le Coq Arena in Tallinn, Estonia after Wayne Rooney blasted a free kick past Sergei Pareiko. The goal puts Rooney just six shy of Sir Bobby Charlton on the all-time scorers list for the English national team.
The benching of Sterling has overshadowed the key victory that keeps England atop Group E with nine points, three points ahead of second place Slovenia, who beat third place team Lithuania 2-0 (who also have six points). Sterling's comments created quite a stir.
Sterling has made 14 appearances between playing for Liverpool and the national team, having started on 12 occasions during this season -- including the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
"Excuse me for being human," tweeted Sterling in response to the criticism he has received.
Now listening too.. Excuse me for being human
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