Thursday, 19 December 2024
Thursday, 19 December 2024
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty and an overhead kick as Portugal beat Poland 5-1 to guarantee a place in the Nations League quarterfinals on Friday.
Ronaldo turned in a man-of-the match performance in a blistering second half.
Rafael Leao broke the deadlock just before the hour with a header before Ronaldo doubled the lead from the spot in the 72nd minute with a confident strike down the middle of the goal.
The hosts then scored three goals in eight minutes through Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto and Ronaldo's clever strike before Dominik Marczuk got a consolation for Poland in the 88th.
The result ended Poland's hopes of making the quarterfinals.
Spain beats Denmark 2-1
Denmark had not beaten Spain since 1993 and it got off to a bad start when Mikel Oyarzabal took advantage of poor defending to give the visitors the lead after 15 minutes.
The European champions were on top throughout, with Oyarzabal and Ayoze Pérez combining well up front. Pérez hit the bar early but later he took a pass from Olmo and finished clinically with 58 minutes gone.
The Danes are in second place with seven points, two ahead of Serbia. The sides meet in Leskovac on Monday.
Scotland stay in hunt for quarters
Scotland forward John McGinn came off the bench to snatch a 1-0 home victory over 10-man Croatia for his country's first Nations League win of the campaign in their penultimate Group A1 game on Friday and keep them in contention for the quarter-finals.
Petar Sucic was sent off for a second yellow card offense two minutes before halftime but Scotland struggled to capitalize.
The result left Scotland with two points and Poland with four. The teams meet in Warsaw on Monday with Scotland needing a win to avoid relegation to the second tier.
Kosovo-Romania match abandoned
A Nations League match between Romania and Kosovo in Bucharest was abandoned in stoppage time on Friday after the visiting players walked off the field when they heard pro-Serbia chanting from the home fans.
European soccer body UEFA did not explain why the game was cut short but Kosovo players were reportedly upset at hearing pro-Serbian slogans.
“The UEFA Nations League match between Romania and Kosovo has been abandoned. UEFA will communicate further information in due course," it said on its website.
After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.
Games involving Kosovo, Albania and Serbia have been a tinder box in recent years.
Serbia relegate Switzerland
Switzerland remained winless in this year's Nations League and they were relegated to the second tier League B after Serbia held them to a 1-1 draw on Friday, with Zeki Amdouni's opener cancelled out by Aleksa Terzic's late strike.
Gregor Kobel saved a penalty from Serbia's Aleksandar Mitrovic early in the second half.
Northern Ireland close to promotion
In Group C3, Northern Ireland took a big step closer to promotion to League B with a 2-0 win at home over Belarus. Daniel Ballard's goal five minutes into the second half put Northern Ireland ahead and Dion Charles doubled its lead 13 minutes later to take it on to 10 points.
Martin O'Neil's men just need a point in Luxembourg on Monday to guarantee promotion to League B.
