Romania clinched a spot in Euro 2016 with a 3-0 away win over the Faeroe Islands on Sunday, while Greece beat Hungary 4-3 to avoid a winless qualifying campaign.
Two first-half goals by Constantin Bulescu secured second place in Group F for Romania, behind already-qualified Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland drew 1-1 with Finland in Helsinki after allowing a late equalizer by Paulus Arajuuri. Craig Cathcart had put the visitors ahead in the 31st minute.
Photo: Reuters
In Torshavn, Faeroe Islands, Bulescu opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a powerful shot just inside the penalty area after a cross from the left by Razvan Rat.
Budescu’s second came from what seemed to be intended as a cross in first-half stoppage-time that looped over goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen and into the net.
In the 83rd minute, Alexandru Maxim and Bogdan Stanku exchanged quick passes and Maxim beat Nielsen to cap the scoring.
Photo: Reuters
Greece finally ended their miserable run when substitute Panagiotis Kone headed in the winner in the 86th minute.
Coach Costas Tsanas made six changes to the starting lineup from the squad that lost 3-1 to Northern Ireland three days previously and it seemed to quickly pay off when Costas Stafylidis opened the scoring in the fifth minute. It was Greece’s first home goal in the qualifiers.
However, Hungary soon took over and equalized in the 26th minute with a header by Gergo Lovrencsics, before Krisztian Nemeth put Hungary ahead from point-blank range in the 55th.
Two minutes later, Panayiotis Tachtsidis met Petros Mantalos’ forward pass and blasted a shot from just inside the penalty area into the Hungary net.
In the 76th minute, Hungary took the lead again. Zsolt Kalmar, who had entered the game five minutes earlier, avoided two Greece defenders and as two more closed in passed to an unmarked Nemeth for an easy goal.
Three minutes later, Tachtsidis made a defense-splitting pass to Costas Mitroglou who made it 3-3, before Kone scored the winner from Jose Holebas’ cross.
“Definitely a bittersweet victory,” Tsanas said.
Hungary finished third in the group and will have another chance to reach the Euro 2016 finals through a playoff.
“We had always planned for a third-placed finish... Greece were unlucky not to have scored in previous games,” Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly said.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive
Taiwan is to have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching and her older sister Latisha Chan officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the national tennis association said on Thursday. The International Tennis Federation on Wednesday evening confirmed the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they would join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi to compete in the Olympics. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association doubles rankings as of Monday, secured her slot earlier,