| The favorites are in no hurry to travel to Portugal Almost all the play-off matches for the final part of the European Championship ended in sensations. And against the general background, the draw between the Russian team and the Welsh team was perceived as almost the most expected result.
The Latvian national team surprised everyone the most. Before the draw, the Latvians were considered, perhaps, the most tasty morsel that Turkey was lucky enough to grab. Now, after the first match, the bronze medalists of the last World Championship look back at the neighboring pairs and sigh heavily: for example, it would be easier with Wales. The reason for this was the performance of Alexander Starkov's team, thanks to which the Latvian national team won a historic victory with a score of 1:0.
From the very first minutes, the Latvians began to lay siege to the gate. The Turks, taken aback by such impudence of the notorious outsiders, missed one attack after another. And if goalkeeper Rushtu had not been in their lineup, the Turkish national team could have lost all chances of success on aggregate in the two meetings. The Barcelona goalkeeper failed to cope with only one shot, which was struck in the 29th minute by striker Verpakovskis, who had already scored his fourth goal in the last three games for the national team. The Turks were able to recover from the shock only at the beginning of the second half. But the attacking impulse of the guests was negated by their own footballer Emre Ashik. He hit his opponent in the face with his elbow, for which he was rightly sent off. With ten members, the Turkish team did not even think about attacks and cared only about maintaining a minimal gap in the score.
“This is the greatest success of Latvian football,” said Latvian national team coach Alexander Starkov after the meeting. “But there’s still one more game ahead, and don’t flatter yourself. Although, maybe we will be lucky and create a miracle.” In turn, the coach of the Turkish team, Senol Gunes, is sure that all is not lost: “Yes, Latvia surprised me. But in Istanbul we will achieve the desired result.”
The Spanish national team wanted to achieve the “needed result” in the first match with the Norwegian team. Moreover, according to the general opinion of the Spaniards themselves, they should have won with a score of no less than 3:0. Everything seemed to start according to plan. The Spaniards created many chances, and it seemed that the ball was about to end up in the net. In the end, this happened, but Norway celebrated success: midfielder Iversen, finding himself in a striking position, left Casillas out of action. Five minutes later the Spaniards got even - Raul could not help but score in such a match. But this is where the Spaniards got stuck. The match was nearing completion, and the same numbers 1:1 were on the scoreboard. The hosts attacked in a variety of ways and made a total of more than 30 shots on goal. But the Norwegians scored again; however, to the delight of Spain, it was an own goal. The favorites, although they managed to win, were not at all happy with the result. “It’s incredible that we were able to score only twice, creating countless scoring chances,” summed up the match, Ruben Baraja, who himself missed many opportunities. “Away we have to play in the same style, because we don’t know how to defend.”
The Scots created another sensation. It seemed they had no chance against the Dutch team. However, at their home Hampden Park, the Scottish national team proved that it was too early to count them out. Having scored midway through the first half, Berti Vogts' team gave their all to defense and succeeded. Klaus Seedorf had the last chance to save the game, but he also failed to equalize.
Results of the play-off matches: Russia - Wales - 0:0, Scotland - Holland - 1:0 (McFadden 22) , Croatia - Slovenia - 1:1 (Prso 5 - Shilyak 22) , Latvia - Turkey - 1:0 (Verpakovskis 30) , Spain - Norway - 2:1 (Raul 21, Berg - own goal - Iversen 14) .
Andrey VDOVIN |
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