Bruno Fernandes scored twice to lead Portugal to victory in the Euro 2024 qualifying match on Saturday. The victory came just after Scotland completed an incredible late comeback to defeat Erling Haaland’s Norway in Oslo.
In Lisbon, Portugal’s victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina by a score of 3-0 gave them a perfect record of three victories out of three in Group J. Manchester City star Bernardo Silva scored the first goal for Portugal only one minute before halftime.
In the 77th minute, Fernandes scored Portugal’s second goal by heading in a cross from Ruben Neves. In the additional time, Fernandes scored his second goal and Portugal’s third goal.
The 38-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the record holder for the most men’s international appearances, gained his 199th cap while wearing the captain’s armband and playing the whole 90 minutes.
However, the attacker who is currently playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia could not get to add to his record 122 goals scored for his country. Midway through the first half, he struck the back of the net with a header, but he was unable to score because an offside flag was raised.
Portugal is now in first place in Group J with nine points out of a possible nine. They have scored 13 goals while only allowing one goal to be scored against them. On Tuesday, Portugal will travel to Iceland.
They are two points ahead of Slovakia, who won 2-1 against Iceland in Reykjavik. Tomas Suslov scored the game-winning goal unintentionally with twenty minutes left to play, which came after an Alfred Finnbogason penalty for Iceland cancelled out Juraj Kucka’s opening goal for Slovakia.
In the same six-team group, Luxembourg prevailed against Liechtenstein with a score of 2-0. The top two sides from this group will advance to the finals in Germany.
After a memorable victory against Spain in March, Scotland followed it up by coming from behind late in the game to overcome Norway 2-1 on Saturday, giving them a perfect record in Group A with three wins out of three.
After scoring the second goal for Scotland versus Norway, Kenny McLean is shown celebrating with teammate John McGinn and Fredrik Varfjell. PHOTO: REUTERS
After Erling Haaland converted the penalty that resulted from a foul committed by Ryan Porteous within the penalty area at the hour mark of the match, it appeared as though Norway would score their first win of the competition.
It was Haaland’s 22nd goal in Norway’s 24 games, and Haaland was removed off the field by coach Stale Solbakken with six minutes remaining when it appeared that the game was already won.
But then, in the 87th minute, Scotland leveled the score when Leo Ostigard failed to deal with a pass from John McGinn, which allowed Lyndon Dykes to stab the ball into the goal.
And Scotland were not done as they seized the victory with one minute remaining on the clock, with McGinn and Dykes combining to set up Norwich City’s Kenny McLean to slide in, leaving Norway with just one point after three matches.
Lukaku saves Belgium Romelu Lukaku, who plays for Belgium, celebrates his team’s first goal after scoring it against Austria. PHOTO: REUTERS
Scotland, who had not competed in a major event for 23 years prior to qualifying for Euro 2020, are now in a terrific position at the top of Group A. They are five points ahead of Georgia and six points ahead of Spain, who will compete in the finals of the Nations League.
However, they have played one more game than both of those teams, and they will be hosting Georgia at their stadium in Glasgow on Tuesday.
“When it’s your time, all you can do is ride the wave,” one person said to another. The guys have a lot of confidence in themselves and never gave up,” stated Scotland’s manager, Steve Clarke.
Georgia defeated Cyprus by a score of 2-1, with Zuriko Davitashvili scoring the game-winning goal in stoppage time. Georgia is managed by Willy Sagnol, a former France international player.
This occurred after a penalty kick taken by Ioannis Pittas of Cyprus nullified the earlier goal scored by Georges Mikautadze of Georgia.
Belgium and Austria played to a 1-1 draw in Brussels, with Belgium’s captain Romelu Lukaku scoring the home team’s goal shortly after the hour mark. Lukaku took a spin and sent the ball in from the edge of the box.
They were already down when Orel Mangala diverted a shot into their own net, putting it past Thibaut Courtois, who was playing the role of the goalie.
“After the first goal, we saw the heads go down, which is something we need to learn from because this team is young,” stated the coach of Belgium, Domenico Tedesco. “This is something we need to learn from because we are young.” “But in all candor, by the time it was over, I had seen some positives as well.”
Eden Hazard, the former captain of Belgium’s national football team who retired from international competition following the World Cup, was present at the game and ran a lap of honor around the stadium during halftime.
Belgium is currently three points behind Austria, who is currently leading the group, although Belgium does have a game in hand. They will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Estonia, who played Azerbaijan to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
In other action, the Czech Republic strengthened their grip on first place in Group E with a 3-0 victory in the Faroe Islands, with both of the Czech Republic’s goals coming courtesy of Vaclav Cerny.