There have been fairly a couple of eyebrows raised with a number of the outcomes from Euro 2024 qualifying on Friday night time.
Worldwide soccer returned on Thursday with a bang and Friday’s motion didn’t disappoint.
This is your roundup from Euros qualifying on March 24.
France 4-0 Netherlands
Ronald Koeman received off to the worst attainable begin again in command of the Netherlands after falling to a 4-0 defeat at France.
Antoine Griezmann – within the headlines this week after he was snubbed to succeed Hugo Lloris as captain – opened the scoring simply two minutes in on the Stade de France, with Dayot Upamecano including one other quickly after.
With the Oranje scrambling, Kylian Mbappe – who did obtain the armband – grabbed Les Bleus’ third with simply 21 minutes on the clock. Koeman responded by turning to his bench and introducing Wout Weghorst for Kenneth Taylor earlier than the break.
Although the Netherlands managed to stem the tide after the interval, Mbappe discovered the online late on with a wonderfully taken strike, sitting a few defenders down earlier than powering into the far nook.
Upamecano gave away a penalty in stoppage time after dealing with the ball, although Mike Maignan saved Memphis Depay’s spot kick to cap off a depressing night for the Netherlands, whose 20-match unbeaten run beneath Louis van Gaal was snapped on the first try by his successor.
Gibraltar 0-3 Greece
Elsewhere in Group B, Greece strolled to a routine 3-0 win away at Gibraltar.
Objectives from Giorgos Masouras, Manolis Siopis and Anastasios Bakasetas helped Gus Poyet’s aspect to victory within the Algarve.
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Czech Republic 3-1 Poland
Equally to Koeman with the Netherlands, Fernando Santos endured a depressing first recreation in command of Poland.
Objectives from Ladislav Krejci and Tomas Cvancara noticed the Czech Republic race right into a sizeable lead simply three minutes in on the Fortuna Area.
Jan Kuchta added the hosts’ third after the hour mark, with Damian Szymanski scoring a comfort for the guests within the latter levels.
Moldova 1-1 Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands have been denied a vital win proper on the final and left Moldova with only a level in Group E’s different recreation.
Mads Boe Mikkelsen broke the impasse halfway by means of the primary half and the guests led for a lot of the night, just for Ion Nicolaescu to attain a penalty with simply minutes remaining on the Stadionul Zimbru.
Austria 4-1 Azerbaijan
Ralf Rangnick’s Austria made a formidable begin to Euro 2024 qualifying with the dismantling of Azerbaijan.
Two targets from Manchester United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer and one from Michael Gregoritsch noticed the Burschen go three up.
Emin Makhmudov pulled one again for Azerbaijan earlier than Christoph Baumgartner shortly restored Austria’s three-goal cushion in Linz.
Sweden 0-3 Belgium
Not like a few of Europe’s different new managers, Domenico Tedesco loved the proper begin with Belgium after tearing aside Sweden in Stockholm.
Romelu Lukaku headed house a beautiful cross from Dodi Lukebakio to offer the Crimson Devils the lead, including a second simply after the break by squeezing the ball in on the close to publish.
A mesmerising run from Johan Bakayoko teed up Lukaku for his third because the Inter striker stole the present on an evening which noticed Zlatan Ibrahimovic make his return for Sweden.
Bulgaria 0-1 Montenegro
Montenegro left it late to beat Bulgaria on opening night time in Razgrad.
Nikola Krstovic’s strike 20 minutes from time was all that separated the 2 sides, with the hosts made to pay for being wasteful with their 63% possession.
Serbia 2-0 Lithuania
Serbia bounced again from World Cup disappointment with a 2-0 win towards Lithuania in Belgrade.
Star males Dusan Tadic and Dusan Vlahovic grabbed the targets because the Eagles comfortably gained again on house soil.