THE SHOTS WE TOOK THIS WEEK
Monday, March 25, 2024
It was a relatively quiet Monday for football, with some international friendlies lacking heavyweight football nations. Here are some results:
๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar 0-2 ๐ท๐ผ Rwanda
๐จ๐พ Cyprus 0-1 ๐ท๐ธ Serbia
๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro 1-0 ๐ฒ๐ฐ North Macedonia
๐จ๐ป Cape Verde 1-0 ๐ฌ๐ถ Equatorial Guinea
๐ฌ๐ณ Guinea 5-1 ๐ง๐ฒ Bermuda
๐ง๐ด Bolivia 1-0 ๐ฆ๐ฉ Andorra
๐ธ๐ฉ Sudan 1-2 ๐ฌ๐ผ Guinea-Bissau
๐จ๐ซ Central African Republic 4-0 ๐ต๐ฌ Papua New Guinea
๐ฑ๐ฐ Sri Lanka 2-0 ๐ง๐น Bhutan
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
AFC World Cup qualifiers – second round Matchday 4.
Six nations have clinched their place in the third round of the AFC World Cup qualifiers: ๐ฆ๐บ Australia, ๐ฎ๐ท Iran, ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraq, ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar, ๐ฆ๐ช United Arab Emirates, and ๐บ๐ฟ Uzbekistan. We wait for the next 12 nations.
Australia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar all emerged as winners, maintaining a flawless winning record with their fourth consecutive win in the AFC World Cup qualifiers. Australia and Iraq secured impressive 5-0 victories away against Lebanon and the Philippines, respectively. The United Arab Emirates triumphed with a 3-0 scoreline against Yemen, while Qatar edged out Kuwait with a 2-1 win.
Japan missed out on the opportunity to extend their winning streak to four as their match with North Korea was suspended.
Saudi Arabia remained unbeaten but failed to secure another win to maintain their perfect start. They dropped points in a 1-all draw with Tajikistan.
Chinese Taipei, Pakistan, and Nepal were seeking their first points, but all three failed to secure any. They were all playing away from home and experienced defeats. Chinese Taipei was hammered 5-1 by Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan was thrashed 7-0 by Jordan, and Nepal suffered a 3-0 defeat against Bahrain.
STANDINGS AFTER MATCHDAY FOUR:
Group A : ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar (12) | ๐ฎ๐ณ India (4) | ๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan (4) | ๐ฐ๐ผ Kuwait (3).
Group B : ๐ฏ๐ต Japan (9) | ๐ธ๐พ Syria (7) | ๐ฐ๐ต North Korea (3) | ๐ฒ๐ฒ Myanmar (1).
Group C : ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea (10) | ๐จ๐ณ China (7) | ๐น๐ญ Thailand (4) | ๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore (1).
Group D : ๐ฐ๐ฌ Kyrgyzstan (9) | ๐ด๐ฒ Oman (9) | ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia (6) | ๐น๐ผ Chinese Taipei (0).
Group E : ๐ฎ๐ท Iran (10) | ๐บ๐ฟ Uzbekistan (10) | ๐น๐ฒ Turkmenistan (1) | ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong (1).
Group F : ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraq (12) | ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia (7) | ๐ป๐ณ Vietnam (3) | ๐ต๐ญ Philippines (1)
Group G : ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia (10) | ๐ฏ๐ด Jordan (7) | ๐น๐ฏ Tajikistan (5) | ๐ต๐ฐ Pakistan (0).
Group H : ๐ฆ๐ช United Arab Emirates (12) | ๐ง๐ญ Bahrain (9) | ๐พ๐ช Yemen (3) | ๐ณ๐ต Nepal (0).
Group I : ๐ฆ๐บ Australia (12) | ๐ต๐ธ Palestine (7) | ๐ฑ๐ง Lebanon (2) | ๐ง๐ฉ Bangladesh (1)
RESULTS – AFC World Cup qualifiers
๐ฎ๐ณ India 1-2 ๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan
๐ฐ๐ผ Kuwait 1-2 ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar
๐ธ๐พ Syria 7-0 ๐ฒ๐ฒ Myanmar
๐ฐ๐ต North Korea pp ๐ฏ๐ต Japan
๐จ๐ณ China 4-1 ๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore
๐น๐ญ Thailand 0-3 ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea
๐ฐ๐ฌ Kyrgyzstan 5-1 ๐น๐ผ Chinese Taipei
๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia 0-2 ๐ด๐ฒ Oman
๐บ๐ฟ Uzbekistan 3-0 ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong
๐น๐ฒ Turkmenistan 0-1 ๐ฎ๐ท Iran
๐ป๐ณ Vietnam 0-3 ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia
๐ต๐ญ Philippines 0-5 ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraq
๐ฏ๐ด Jordan 7-0 ๐ต๐ฐ Pakistan
๐น๐ฏ Tajikistan 1-1 ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia
๐ง๐ญ Bahrain 3-0 ๐ณ๐ต Nepal
๐พ๐ช Yemen 0-3 ๐ฆ๐ช United Arab Emirates
๐ง๐ฉ Bangladesh 0-1 ๐ต๐ธ Palestine
๐ฑ๐ง Lebanon 0-5 ๐ฆ๐บ Australia
2024 EURO qualifier finals.
A penalty shootout was needed to decide two of the three playoff finals, which ended in goalless draws. Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine secured spots in the 2024 Euro at the expense of Wales, Iceland, and Greece, respectively.
๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine 2-1 ๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland: Ukraine recovered from a 1-0 first-half deficit to score two goals in the second half, securing a place in the 2024 Euro with a 2-1 victory against Iceland.
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ Wales 0-0 ๐ต๐ฑ Poland: All five Polish shooters converted their shots into goals, and the Welsh shooters matched it until their fifth kick. Daniel James missed the 5th kick, resulting in Wales losing 5-4 in the penalty shootout to Poland.
๐ฌ๐ช Georgia 0-0 ๐ฌ๐ท Greece: Georgia secured their first Euro appearance through a 4-2 win in the penalty shootout.
The complete groups in 2024 Euro:
Georgia was the only team that had never qualified for the Euro, and they achieved it by defeating the only team in the playoff that had previously won the Euro title, Greece.
Wales aimed for their third appearance in the last four editions since their debut in 2016 but fell short against a Poland team that has participated in every tournament since 2008.
Iceland sought a return to the Euro since their debut in 2016, but their absence was prolonged by Ukraine, who have now qualified for every tournament since their debut as co-hosts in 2012.
GROUP A: ๐ฉ๐ช Germany, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ Scotland, ๐ญ๐บ Hungary, ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland
GROUP B: ๐ช๐ธ Spain, ๐ญ๐ท Croatia, ๐ฎ๐น Italy, ๐ฆ๐ฑ Albania
GROUP C: ๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia, ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark, ๐ท๐ธ Serbia, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ England
GROUP D: ๐ต๐ฑ Poland, ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands, ๐ฆ๐น Austria, ๐ซ๐ท France
GROUP E: ๐ง๐ช Belgium, ๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia, ๐ท๐ด Romania, ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine
GROUP F: ๐น๐ท Turkey, ๐ฌ๐ช Georgia, ๐ต๐น Portugal, ๐จ๐ฟ Czech Republic
CONCACAF World Cup Qualification – First Round
๐ป๐ฌ The British Virgin Islands advanced to the second round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers (Group E) at the expense of the ๐ป๐ฎUS Virgin Islands.
๐ฆ๐ฎ Anguilla advanced to the second round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers (Group F) at the expense of ๐น๐จ Turks and Caicos Islands.
Both matches were decided through penalty shootouts.
There were several exciting international friendlies scheduled, featuring some heavyweight matchups:
Youri Tielemans scored a brace in the first half for Belgium in a 2-2 draw against England. A late goal from Jude Bellingham saved England from back-to-back defeats at Wembley Stadium.
Slovenia won 2-0 against Portugal, with both goals coming in the last 20 minutes of regulation time.
France secured a narrow 3-2 win against Chile, coming from an early goal down to take a 3-1 lead.
Germany followed up a 2-0 win against France with another victory against the Netherlands. This time they had to come from a goal down to win 2-1.
Spain and Brazil evenly shared six goals in Madrid, resulting in a 3-3 draw.
Croatia defeated Egypt 4-2.
Austria thrashed Turkey 6-1, with Michael Gregoritsch scoring a hat-trick in the process.
Argentina scored three goals in the second half to come from a goal down to beat Costa Rica 3-1.
๐ช๐ธ Spain 3-3 ๐ง๐ท Brazil
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ England 2-2 ๐ง๐ช Belgium
๐ฉ๐ช Germany 2-1 ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands
๐จ๐ฎ Ivory Coast 2-1 ๐บ๐พ Uruguay
๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali 2-0 ๐ณ๐ฌ Nigeria
๐ซ๐ท France 3-2 ๐จ๐ฑ Chile
๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia 2-0 ๐ต๐น Portugal
๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria 3-3 ๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa
๐ณ๐ด Norway 1-1 ๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia
๐ท๐ด Romania 2-3 ๐จ๐ด Colombia
๐ธ๐ณ Senegal 1-0 ๐ง๐ฏ Benin
๐ฎ๐ช Ireland 0-1 ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ Scotland 0-1 ๐ฌ๐ง Northern Ireland
๐ต๐ช Peru 4-1 Dominican Republic
๐ฆ๐ท Argentina 3-1 ๐จ๐ท Costa Rica
Making History – ๐ฌ๐ช Georgia’s Journey to Their First-Ever European Championship:
The creation of new national football heroes.
Of the 24 nations in the 2024 European Championship, Georgia is the only one that will be making their debut. Georgia made it through the playoff rounds at the expense of Greece.
Georgia finished 4th in their Euro qualifying group (Group A), trailing behind Spain, Scotland, and Norway. However, their performance in the UEFA Nations League earned them a spot in the 12-team playoff round to determine the last three teams that would join the 21 teams qualifying directly.
Georgia, alongside ๐ง๐ฆ Bosnia and Herzegovina, ๐ช๐ช Estonia, ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel, ๐ฐ๐ฟ Kazakhstan, and ๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg, was one of the nations in the playoffs that had never qualified for the Euro. They were the only one out of the six to advance to the playoff final, defeating Luxembourg along the way.
Budi Zivzivadze scored both goals in a ‘2-0’ playoff semifinal win against Luxembourg for Georgia to advance and meet Greece in the playoff final. Greece was the only nation in the playoffs that had previously won the Euro title in their history. Georgia displayed resilience, playing out a goalless draw with Greece before securing a 4-2 victory in a penalty shootout.
There was controversy in their semifinal match against Luxembourg, where Luxembourg scored an equalizing goal that was disallowed by VAR due to a foul leading to the attacking play. The foul resulted in a Luxembourg player being sent off in the 58th minute, and Georgia doubled their lead less than five minutes later.
Semi Final: Georgia 2-0 Luxembourg
Final: Georgia 0-0 Greece (win 4-2 pko)
๐ฌ๐ช Georgia will be in Group F of the 2024 Euro with ๐จ๐ฟ Czech Republic, ๐ต๐น Portugal, and ๐น๐ท Turkey
