Wednesday, November 27, 2019

European summer awaits


As Europe prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Euros in the summer of 2020 with the competition spread around the continent, the group stage reached its conclusion. Sweden received their invitation to the party after a 2-0 victory in Romania while Eden Hazard scored twice as Belgium cemented their superiority over Russia and top spot in the football rankings brushing their hosts aside 4-1 in Saint Petersburg and the Czechs ended their successful campaign with a disappointing 1-0 loss in Bulgaria. Cristian Martinez scored twice for Andorra who enjoyed a rare point with a 2-2 draw in Albania while France came from behind on home soil to get past Moldova 2-1 thanks to a late penalty and Turkey drew blanks at home to Iceland. Greece defeated their Armenian hosts 1-0 while Scotland picked up a 2-1 win in Cyprus and Austria were stunned 1-0 in Latvia.
The World Cup qualifiers continued in Asia where Suan Lam Mang scored twice for hosts Myanmar who got the better of Tajikistan 4-3 for whom Manuchehr Dzalilov also netted twice, but the Tajikistanis salvaged some pride with a 1-1 draw away to Kyrgyzstan days later. North Korea were defeated 3-1 in Turkmenistan while Saudi Arabia were 3-2 winners in Uzbekistan with the help of Salman Alfaraj and Thailand lost 2-1 in Malaysia. Yemen had mixed fortunes in Bahrain where they beat Palestine 1-0 but lost 2-1 to Singapore 5 days later while Bahrain themselves drew 0-0 away to Hong Kong.
The shock of the month happened in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers where Gambia triumphed 3-1 in Angola with Assan Ceesay netting a brace for the visitors while Khama Billiat scored twice as Zimbabwe won 2-1 in Zambia and Madagascar ran out 6-2 winners in Niger with Lalaïna Nomenjanahary scoring a double for the Malagasy. Ethiopia celebrated a 2-1 win over Ivory coast while Cameroon were held to a goalless draw at home to Cape Verde and Morocco were 3-0 winners in Burundi. Togo were stunned 1-0 by their visitors from Comoros before drawing 1-1 in Kenya while Guinea Bissau lost 3-0 in Congo and 10-man Sao Tome and Principe were beaten 4-0 in Sudan. Guinea drew 2-2 in Mali and in the CONCACAF Nations League the most noteworthy result was the 1-0 defeat of Barbados to Saint Martin in Anguilla.