| Albania beat the strongest team in Europe The Russian team did not enjoy the unofficial title of European champions for long. The feat of Georgiy Yartsev’s team was repeated by the Albanian team, which beat Greece in the World Cup qualifying match with a score of 2:1.
For the victory over the European champions, Albanian football players were promised 500 thousand euros in bonuses. And it seems that the players did not find this money unnecessary. The Albanians achieved a decisive advantage of two goals already in the 10th minute of the meeting. And even though the Greeks managed to get one goal back before the break, the first defeat after the continental championship for the Greek team could not be avoided.
In the homeland of the European champions, fans took this news with hostility literally. On the island of Zakynthos, an American of Greek origin attacked three Albanians with a knife, one of whom died and two were wounded. In Athens, four Albanians and one Greek were stabbed. This may not be the entire list of victims.
In the second group, where Greece is playing, the fight for the first two places will be serious, and the favorites are not performing well yet. The Turkish national team, which had already missed one major tournament after the World Cup, failed to win against Georgia at home. And even taking into account the fact that the Turks played for half an hour with ten men after Hakan Sas was sent off, it is unlikely that the bronze medalists of the world championship can be satisfied with the result. The Danes were also upset by the draw with Ukraine, having had the advantage almost the entire match, but missing almost the only dangerous counterattack of the guests.
Saturday's matches brought a number of other unexpected results. The French team was never able to beat the Israeli team at home. And the England team was unable to beat the Austrian team - 2:2. Moreover, the British themselves gave away the victory. Until the 71st minute, everything went according to Eriksson's plan - his team, after the effective strikes of Lampard and Gerrard, won with a difference of two goals. But the Austrians did not even think of giving up. First, Kollman scored one goal with a free kick, and then Ivanshitz set the final result. Moreover, at this moment the British goalkeeper James made a mistake, missing a simple ball at hand. Belgium also failed to beat Lithuania. Moreover, the Belgians can only blame themselves for the unsuccessful outcome of the meeting: the scoring chances at the Lithuanians’ goal would have been enough for several matches.
Results of the World Cup qualifying matches. Group 1 . Romania - Macedonia - 2:1, Finland - Andorra - 3:0. Group 2. Albania - Greece - 2:1, Turkey - Georgia - 1:1, Denmark - Ukraine - 1:1. Group 3. Russia - Slovakia - 1:1, Estonia - Luxembourg - 4:0, Latvia - Portugal - 0:2. Group 4 . Ireland - Cyprus - 3:0, Switzerland - Faroe Islands - 6:0, France - Israel - 0:0. Group 5. Italy - Norway - 2:1, Slovenia - Moldova - 3:0. Group 6. Northern Ireland - Poland - 0:3, Azerbaijan - Wales - 1:1, Austria - England - 2:2. Group 7. Belgium - Lithuania - 1:1, San Marino - Serbia and Montenegro - 0:3. Group 8. Malta - Sweden - 0:7, Croatia - Hungary - 3:0, Iceland - Bulgaria - 1:3. Andrey VDOVIN |
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