Ukraine came from behind on Tuesday to beat Iceland in a playoff to qualify for UEFA Euro 2024, while Poland secured their place at the finals with a penalty shoot-out victory over Wales and Georgia qualified for a first-ever major tournament.
The Ukrainians were aiming to qualify for their first tournament since Russia invaded their country two years ago, and they did so by coming from behind to defeat Iceland 2-1 in a game played in Wroclaw, Poland.
Albert Gudmundsson silenced the crowd in a city with a large Ukrainian refugee population as he fired Iceland into the lead on the half-hour mark.
Photo: Reuters
Iceland, with a population under 400,000, were hoping to return to the finals of a competition in which they reached the quarter-finals in 2016.
However, Euro 2020 quarter-finalists Ukraine equalized nine minutes after halftime thanks to a superbly taken goal by Viktor Tsygankov of Spanish side Girona.
Extra time was looming when Ukraine grabbed the winner with six minutes left as Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk swept home a first-time shot from the edge of the area.
“Thank you, guys! Thank you, team! For significant emotions for the entire country. For the important victory and making it to EURO. For proving once again: whenever Ukrainians face difficulties but do not give up and continue to fight, Ukrainians certainly win,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Having narrowly missed out to Italy in their qualifying group and being forced into the playoffs, Ukraine can now look forward to Euro2024, which begins in Germany on June 14.
They go into Group E alongside Belgium, Slovakia and Romania.
Poland go into a difficult Group D along with France, the Netherlands and Austria after getting the better of Wales in a tense shoot-out at the end of their playoff final in Cardiff.
The match ended 0-0 after 90 minutes and there were no goals either in extra-time, which ended with Wales having Chris Mepham sent off for a second booking.
A high-quality shoot-out, which began with Robert Lewandowski converting Poland’s first kick, saw nine successful penalties before Daniel James had his effort saved and Wales lost 5-4.
There would be no third consecutive European Championship for the Welsh team, who were semi-finalists in 2016.
“It’s a cruel game, that’s what I’ve said to the players, one kick away from qualifying. It hurts,” Wales manager Rob Page told broadcaster S4C.
Earlier, Georgia made history by qualifying for a major international tournament for the first time since the country in the Caucasus of 3.7 million people gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
They beat Greece 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at the end of extra time in Tbilisi, sparking a pitch invasion from delighted fans at the Boris Paichadze Stadium.
Nika Kvekveskiri stroked in the decisive penalty for Georgia after Tasos Bakasetas and Giorgos Giakoumakis both failed to score from the spot for Greece.
Surprise European champions in 2004, Greece’s defeat means their wait to qualify for a first major tournament since the 2014 FIFA World Cup goes on.
Ranked 77th in the world, a Georgia team coached by former France full-back Willy Sagnol are to join Turkey, Portugal and the Czech Republic in Group F.
“I would pay to feel what I feel today,” Sagnol said after the game.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
RSS