June window for international matches closed

On Tuesday, the next window allocated for matches of football teams was closed. Within its framework, two rounds of the qualifying tournament for the next European Championship in Germany took place (the Russian team was excluded from it). Most of the favorites had a good time, but there were also interesting results that confused the situation in the groups.

Group A

In this group, the first half of the tournament went remarkably smoothly for Scotland. They are accustomed to perceive her rather as an average peasant who can only get through to the European Championship with torment, but so far no torment has been observed: four matches – four wins, including two extremely important ones. One team of Scotland won back in the spring, having coped at home with the undisputed favorites of the group, the Spaniards. The next one was already within the June window, having defeated the Norwegians on the road, who, having in the composition of the miracle scorer Erling Haaland and midfielder Martin Odegaard, excellent by any standards, seemed real contenders for second place. The Spanish national team, which missed the qualifying matches in June, as it played in the Final Four trophy of the League of Nations, which brought it the trophy, formally solid, nine points, the gap from the Scots, of course, can easily make up. For Norwegians, the situation is already complicated. They have played as many games as Scotland and only have a point more than the Spanish team with their two meetings. Moreover, the Georgians are ahead. And vouchers for the European Championship are received by two teams from each group.

Group B

Slightly renewed after the World Cup in Qatar, the French team has not yet allowed misfires, having won all four of their matches, even the fourth, against the Greeks, with a terrible creak, thanks to the only goal from the penalty spot by Kylian Mbappe. True, even after this defeat, the Greek football players retained the second position. But to save it for them, apparently, it will be terribly difficult. The Dutch national team, like the Spaniards, had the “Final Four” of the League of Nations in June, and therefore they have already six matches ahead of them in qualifying against five ahead of the Greeks by three points ahead of the Dutch.

Group C

The owner of one of the vouchers in this group has already, presumably, decided. To two March victories, the England team added two June, and extremely impressive. She defeated the Maltese with a score of 4: 0, the team of North Macedonia – as much as 7: 0, despite the fact that the Macedonians are not so weak: they played at the previous European Championship in 2021, and without making it to last year’s World Championship in Qatar, they unhooked it Italians, defeating them in a play-off at the end of qualifying. The Italian national team, which managed to lose to the British and played, like the Dutch with the Spaniards, two matches instead of three or four with competitors, is sitting in ambush. And she will have to catch up with the Ukrainians. The national team of Ukraine in June walked on the edge of a knife, but took their points. She coped with the Macedonians, losing with a score of 0:2, and then somehow, 1:0, dealt with the Maltese.

Group D

This is perhaps the most intriguing qualification group. As a result of the June window, only the Latvian national team with its zero points left the number of hunters for trips to the European Championship. The other four fight for them. In the absence of the Croats, who broke through to the Final Four of the League of Nations, the Turks took the lead, defeating the Latvians first – thanks to a goal at the end of stoppage time, and then the Welsh. But very close, with an equal number of lost points, are the Armenians who beat the same rivals, and close behind them, of course, are the Croats and the Wales team, who retain their favorite status. This is where the sequel can get really interesting.

Group E

Roughly the same applies to this five. The intrigue in it was warmed up to the limit by a match in which the Moldavian national team, seemingly hopeless in terms of the race for a ticket to the European Championship, beat the Poles at home – 3: 2 – with Robert Lewandowski, not paying attention to two goals conceded in the first half hour. For the Polish team, despite being expected at the top of the group table, this is already the second defeat in the tournament, and they are stuck in the penultimate place in front of the Faroese. And the Czechs are in the lead, who, however, are not too far away from the Albanians, Moldovans and even the same Poles.

Group F

The Belgian national team was briefly headlined in June by the demarche of their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. He left her location after a draw with the Austrians due to a conflict with new coach Domenico Tedesco. The Belgians, even without Courtois, with an injured Kevin De Bruyne, dealt with the Estonians without any problems, but the team shoveled by Tedesco after an unsuccessful World Cup (its fans have to get used to characters that are still unfamiliar, including those with tricky surnames – such as Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye) while behind the Austrians by three points, however, with the match in reserve. But the Swedes, after losing to the Austrians, are already four points behind.

Group G

In this group, two clear and predictable leaders were identified in June. The national teams of Hungary and Serbia each have seven points. And only the Montenegrins pose some kind of danger to them, and that, apparently, is minimal.

Group H

The unconditional surprise of the first half of the qualifying round was the Kazakhstan team, which had never dreamed of top tournaments before. In the spring, she defeated the Danes, now she beat – 1: 0 – away from the Northern Irish. At least the Kazakhs now have the right to dream about the European Championship. They lead the classification of the group, going on a par with the Finns. And the Danes and strong Slovenes, who are two points apart from the tandem, who are terrible in terms of the background, but unsightly in terms of the game this season, need to be caught up.

Group I

The Swiss slightly spoiled their performance with a home draw – 2:2 – with the Romanians. But their positions are still strong – ten points after four matches. The Romanian team – two less, the Israeli – three. Perhaps this is the entire list of participants in the race for tickets to the continental championship.

Group J

The main event of this entire June window turned into a match in which the Icelanders took on the Portuguese. Thanks to him, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first football player in history to make 200 appearances for his national team. The anniversary was perfect. The game threatened to end in a goalless draw when, at the end, the 38-year-old Ronaldo, who made his debut in the national team back in 2003, forwarded Goncalo Inacio’s flank canopy with his head into the net. The Portuguese prevailed over the Icelanders and won the fourth consecutive victory. A ticket to Germany will not get away from them. For the second there will be a struggle between the Portuguese pursuers. And the closest ones are the Slovaks and, paradoxically, the Luxembourg national team, which, however, even before this qualification got rid of the image of a typical football “dwarf”. Now she’s showing her teeth again. Within the framework of the June window, the Luxembourgers took over – 2:0 – over the well-equipped Bosnians on their field.

Alexey Dospekhov