Football catching up

 

The 2022 World Cup qualifiers in South America finally kicked off, as did the play-off matches for the postponed 2020 Euros, while the European League of Nations continued.

Venezuela got off to a poor start losing their first home matches 3-0 to Colombia, with 2 goals from Luis Muriel, and 1-0 to Paraguay while 2 late Luis Suaraz penalties were not enough for Uruguay as Ecuador had already taken a 4-goal lead with Michael Estrada netting twice for the hosts. Neymar claimed a hat-trick in Brazil’s 4-2 win in Peru who finished the match with 9 players on the field.

In the Euro 2020 qualifier play-offs, Serbia eliminated their Norwegian hosts 2-1 in extra time while Hungary triumphed 3-1 in Bulgaria. A few days later the Hungarians  continued their rise in the football rankings with a 1-0 win away to Serbia in the European League of Nations while 10-man England lost 1-0 at home to Denmark and Gibraltar enjoyed a 1-0 win in Liechtenstein.

Three days after a 3-0 defeat to Mali,  Andre Ayew scored twice to help Ghana demolish Asian champions Qatar 5-1 in another friendly match played in Turkey while Burkina Faso beat DR Congo 3-0 in Morocco and South Africa lost 2-1 at home to Zambia. Belgium were held to a goalless draw at home to Ivory Coast while Costa Rica lost 1-0 at home to Panama and Nicaragua drew 1-1 in Honduras. In other friendly matches, Mozambique lost 1-0 to Guinea Bissau and 3-0 to Angola in Portugal while Tanzania suffered a 1-0 loss at home to Burundi.