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GOAL! Republic of Ireland 2-1 Austria (Prass 71)
Kitching is caught on the ball, and Wimmer pounces, eventually finding Prass at the back post with his low centre. Prass rifles it into the roof of the net! Game on!
77 min: Wales 2-1 Norway
Nusa has made a real difference for the 10-man visitors since coming on, and it is the RB Leipzig that gives Haaland a half-chance at the back post, floating a cross up in the City striker’s direction. Haaland tries to control it, rather than head it first time and he is eventually crowded out by a combination of Ben Davies and Cabango.
70 min: Denmark 2-3 Portugal
“It’s a dawn of a new era!” emails Nelson Calvinho. “Mark my words, Michael, today is the first day of Portugal’s road to the Euro title!”
As mentioned before, Ronaldo will not be enjoying this, sat at home. Yes, they have had defensive frailties with Denmark scoring twice on the counter attack, but Portugal have scored three excellent goals without Ronaldo in their ranks. Might we have seen the last of CR7 in the red and green?
GOAL! Denmark 2-3 Portugal (Vitinha 67)
Bruno Fernandes puts it on a plate for Vitinha – all 5ft8in of him – who heads the ball past Hermansen from eight yards out. Denmark didn’t look in danger at all, but a run from deep from Vitinha went completely unchecked and Fernandes lofted a brilliant cross over the head of Andersen, where the PSG man made no mistake. Portugal back in front!
GOAL! Greece 2-1 Netherlands (Van Dijk 60)
The Dutch are back in it, Van Dijk with a irrepressible header from a corner. Netherlands are not playing well, but sometimes a set piece can change the game.
GOAL! Germany 2-0 Serbia (Wirtz 61)
Wirtz is a special jugador, just not when he’s wearing the red of Liverpool, apparently. Here he links the play in midfield, pops the ball out wide to Mittelstadt, who saunters forward and finds Wirtz again on the edge of the area. I’m still genuinely still trying to figure out Wirtz’s first touch as he kills the ball dead and sends Gudelj to the shops in one movement – the best I can describe it as is a backheel feint – before giving Petrovic the eyes and stroking a finish into the corner. The lad plays with outrageous confidence and looks every inch a £100m player when he doesn’t play for the Reds. Isn’t it meant to be the other way around?! That the Germany shirt is heavy?!
GOAL! Denmark 2-2 Portugal (Hojlund 55)
Damsgaard is again at the heart of it as Portugal are done once more on the counter-attack. Portugal’s high press doesn’t work and the Brentford playmaker suddenly finds himself in oceans of space in the middle of the field. Having linked the play, Hojlund turns and sprints past Dias, beating the Portugal offside trap and Damsgaard finds the Napoli forward with a sumptuous through ball. Hojlund races through, holds off Dias (who looks like he has lost a yard or two of pace) and dinks the onrushing Costa. What composure! And what a game we have now.
Republic of Ireland game interrupted by Palestine protests
54 min: Republic of Ireland 2-0 Austria
Have to say that Austria don’t look up to much. Their attack is built around the 6ft7in Kalajdzic, formerly of Wolves, and there isn’t much dynamism to trouble Republic of Ireland.
In trying to watch seven games at once, I have to say that I missed this story from the first half:
The Republic of Ireland’s home Nations League match with Austria at the Aviva Stadium was interrupted twice in the first half as a result of a protest involving tennis balls followed by a pitch invader.
Just before the 20th minute, a number of tennis balls wrapped in stickers featuring the Palestinian flag and the text ‘#StopTheGame’ were launched on to the pitch from the corner to the right of the Austria goal. Then, around the 35th minute, a man ran on to the field of play from the opposite side, carrying what appeared to be a Palestinian flag, and was immediately tackled by security and carried off. Uefa’s disciplinary body will assess reports from the match before deciding on any potential next steps.
It has been a tumultuous week for the Republic. Their two Nations League fixtures against Israel have divided opinion in the country, sparking protests, including one which took place pre-match outside the stadium, advertised on social media by a campaign group called Stop the Game.
Players voted last Saturday morning to fulfil the following day’s fixture against Israel in Debrecen, Hungary, which they won 3-0. The Republic’s behind-closed-doors ‘home’ leg in Backa Topola, Serbia, is scheduled for Sunday, and manager Heimir Hallgrimsson on Wednesday confirmed it was their intention to play.
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu has made himself unavailable for selection for both Israel fixtures, but was included in Hallgrimsson’s squad to face Austria at the Aviva. PA
GOAL! Wales 2-1 Norway (Neco Williams 54)
From the resulting free-kick, Neco Williams curls the set piece into the corner! Nyland is nowhere in Norway’s goal, hidden behind the wall almost as he gambled to his left. Williams wrong-foots the keeper and pops it into the side netting.
A dream scenario for Bellamy and co! Now leading 2-1 and playing against 10 men! Nightmare for Norway!
RED CARD FOR NORWAY'S HEGGEM!
A long ball forward from Wales and Torbjorn Heggem is ponderous as he retreats. Dan James, lightning fast, nips in to steal the ball and is hauled to the ground. Heggem is last man, has to go!
Peeeeeep!
We’re underway again.
There will always be Hungary, though. Takes some beating for drama, that.
My apologies to Idah, it was he that got the flick on for Parrott for the Republic of Ireland’s first goal, not Moylan. I cannot really do justice to how good Parrott’s goal is: when he controlled the flick on, the Real Betis striker literally threw up his hands as if to say ‘where’s the support, lads?’ Spoiler, there was no support, so Parrott did it all on his own. Setting off from just inside Austria’s half, he beat three defenders (including a cheeky nutmeg) and finished like Prime Luis Suárez.
Obviously his goal against Hungary was more dramatic/important/iconic, but in terms of technical quality, I genuinely think that has a shout as the best Republic of Ireland goal of all time! Houghton’s thunderbastard against England aside.
Half-time reading:
You’ll notice from those half-time scores that Greece have doubled their lead against Netherlands. Ruben van Bommel, son of Belgium manager Mark, plays a dreadful backpass which acts as a through ball for Greece. Ioannidis is onto it in a flash, reaches the byline and plays a square pass to Masouras, who steers the ball past Verbruggen from close range.
This is a very good Greece side, by the way, but also a particularly underwhelming Dutch era. Xavi has quite the job on his hands before Euro 2028.
Half-time scores!
Wales 1-1 Norway
Denmark 1-2 Portugal
Germany 1-0 Serbia
Republic of Ireland 2-0 Austria
Greece 2-0 Netherlands
Israel 0-0 Kosovo
Malta 0-0 Gibraltar
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 2-0 Austria (Parrott 45 pen)
Republic of Ireland gifted a soft (but probably correct) penalty after Seiwald goes through the back of Manning, who crept up on the Austria defender’s blindside. Parrott, full of confidence, steps up and sends Wiegele the wrong way to score his second of the match!
42 min: Wales 1-1 Norway
Odegaard is really pulling the strings for the visitors. Wales will be happy to get to half-time all square.
GOAL! Germany 1-0 Serbia (Bischof 39)
Wirtz just looks a different player when he’s not in a Liverpool shirt and the 23-year-old turns on the style here to inspire Germany. Preposterously quick feet earns Wirtz some room inside Serbia’s box as he somehow ghosts past two defenders before toe-poking a finish onto the foot of the post. The ball rebound out and Bischof is there to crash the loose ball into the roof of the net. The Allianz Arena erupts!
GOAL! Wales 1-1 Norway (James 37)
Koumas pings it wide to Sorba Thomas and the Hull City winger’s pinpoint cross finds James at the back stick for a tap in! A simple goal, but very hard to defend once Thomas sent in one of his trademark early crosses. Bellamy punches the air, while James is rather more understated with his celebrations. Wales are level!
30 min: Germany 0-0 Serbia
This new-look Germany side are struggling to break down a sturdy Serbia team. The home side enjoying lots of possession but no great incision. This is a big night for Woltemade, starting tonight despite just one goal since his loan move to Juventus.
GOAL! Denmark 1-2 Portugal (Ramos 24)
Ramos on fire! An assist and now a goal! This is not pretty viewing for Ronaldo, who must be sitting at home, while Jorge Jesus looks entirely vindicated in selecting the Milan striker ahead of CR7. Nuno Mendes breaks forward from left back – he’ll do that – plays the ball into Ramos’ feet. Ramos backheels it to Fernandes, expertly, and then gets on his bike, bursting into space. Fernandes plays a beautiful first-time return ball to send Ramos through and the striker finishes with ease at the near post. Corrrrrrrr, we’ve seen some goals tonight, I tell you!
GOAL! Greece 1-0 Netherlands (Ioannidis 23)
This is not a good Dutch side. They are undone by a simple flick on. Ioannidis sprints onto the touch, in the inside left position, and simply curls it into the far corner! Van Dijk just watched him do it, as if he was daring him to shoot. Why didn’t the Liverpool legend make a tackle?! Ioannidis took the invitation and Greece are 1-0 up!
GOAL! Denmark 1-1 Portugal (Damsgaard 23)
A classic counter-attacking move, finished off by the Brentford creator! From a quick Hermansen throw, Damsgaard starts the move himself. Denmark flow up field, with Maehle making a lung-busting overlapping run on the left. The ball is cut back to Damsgaard on the edge of Portugal’s area, and he curls it into the top bin!
16 min: Denmark 0-1 Portugal
Two thoughts after that fine Cancelo goal: 1) Ramos, Portugal’s centre forward tonight, registered a brilliant assist there. Does Ronaldo play that pass? Not sure he does. 2) Cancelo is on a bit of a run of scoring brilliant goals recently, he scored two worldies against Racing Santander and won La Liga’s goal of the month for September with his first. Oooooof.
GOAL! Denmark 0-1 Portugal (Cancelo 13)
Moments after Neves hits a post, Denmark half clear the ball to Cancelo. The Barcelona full-back plays a wonderful one-two with Ramos to completely split the Denmark defence in two, and dinks the ball deliciously over Hermansen to give Portugal the lead!
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 1-0 Austria (Parrot 13)
Parrott has morphed into Robbie Keane/Diego Maradona and scored an absolutely sensational solo goal! Route One stuff from the Republic of Ireland as Kelleher hoofs it to Moylan. The Cardiff City winger flicks it on to Parrott, who collects it, completely isolated, about 45 yards from goal. Parrott then just sets off. He turns his first man easily, swiftly nutmegging Lienhart. Austria are now in trouble, scrambling to get back as Parrott approaches the area. Will he turn back for support? Will he eff! Parrott chops back on the outside, around Affengruber, and finishes low under the advancing Austrian keeper Wiegele! WHAT A GOAL! Genuinely a goal of the season contender. That is absolutely outstanding.
GOAL! Wales 0-1 Norway (Bobb 11)
Pure magic from Odegaard to set up Bobb for the opener in Cardiff! This is textbook play from the Arsenal man, playing a one-two with Bobb and defying his markers to somehow occupying a pocket of space in front of the Wales defence, before laying on an inch-perfect through ball. Bobb gives and goes, before taking a nice first touch and finishing inside the near post. Exactly the sort of goal you could imagine Odegaard setting up for Saka scoring at club level.
8 min: Germany 0-0 Serbia
Pavlovic inches wide from giving Germany the lead! From a set piece the ball breaks kindly to the Bayern man on the edge of the area, and he curls it juuuuuuuust wide of Petrovic’s left-hand post. Klopp, as you might imagine, is a picture of calm on the sidelines …
4 min: Denmark 0-0 Portugal
Looks like it is actually Bruno Fernandes who has the armband in lieu of Ronaldo, not Ruben Dias. Portugal are wearing their away kit, that gross white and green number, with Denmark obviously in their red.
“Ronaldo’s obsession with getting 1,000 goals is exactly why he shouldn’t be given the opportunity to get them,” emails Dave Estherby. “Ten Hag saw through him four years ago just as Jesus has now. Hopefully Big Ange [Postecoglou, at Al-Nassr] has the stones Martinez clearly lacked and elbows him too; parading about like a show pony in a vain attempt at a personal milestone at the expense of your team’s success is about as bad as it gets. No doubt he’ll be giving a sob story on Piers Morgan next week.”
1 min: Wales 0-0 Norway
James makes a trademark burst down the right wing for Wales, but Ajer gets across to make a superb sliding tackle. Corner to Wales, which the home side fumble with some sort of botched short routine.
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep!
We are underway in all of the 7.45pm BST kick-offs!
Republic of Ireland v Austria team news
Republic of Ireland (3-4-2-1): Kelleher, Scales, O’Shea, Egan, Manning, Coventry, Azaz, Abankwah, Moylan, Idah, Parrott.
Austria (4-2-3-1): Wiegele, Mwene, Lienhart, Affengruber, Posch, Schlager, Seiwald, Schmid, Chukwuemeka, Wimmer, Kalajdzic.
Greece v Netherlands team news
Greece (4-4-2): Tzolakis, Tsimikas, Retsos, Mavropanos, Saliakas, Tzolis, Androutsos, Kourbelis, Karetsas, Ioannidis, Pavlidis.
Netherlands (4-3-3): Verbruggen, Van de Ven, Van Dijk, Timber, Dumfries, Timber, Til, Veerman, Van Bommel, Meerdink, Summerville.
“Ronaldo is a Gulfstream Jet celebrity who feels a sense of entitlement bordering on megalomania,” emails Gary Stover. “Yet, he has a saving grace. He actually wants to play for his country. John Terry said that he played with varying degrees of injury in all but about five of his 717 appearances in all competitions. Now it seems that some players are ready to find excuses not to play for their countries.”
Not sure we should be holding up John Terry as the good guy, but go off, Gary.
Germany v Serbia team news
Germany (4-1-2-3): Urbig, Mittelstädt, Thiaw, Anton, Treu, Pavlovic, Wirtz, Bischof, Scherhant, Woltemade, Gnabry.
Subs: Jeltsch, Engelhardt, El Mala, Burkardt, Dahmen, Baur, Karl, Baku, Conte, Atubolu, Raum, Janelt.
Serbia (4-4-2): Petrovic, Babic, Gudelj, Erakovic, Nedeljkovic, Kostic, Dzodic, Maksimovic, Zivkovic, Tadic, Jović.
Subs: Pavlovic, Mimovic, A Stankovic, Joeljic, F Stankovic, Simic, Terzic, Cvetkovic, Kostov, Samardzic, Lukic, Milinkovic-Savic.
Pressure is on for Klopp, who if Germany fail to win tonight, would become the first manager of the national team to go winless in his first three matches. Jonas Urbig and Derry Scherhant make their debuts, Serge Gnabry returns after his injury and captains the team for the first time.
Wales v Norway team news
Wales (5-4-1): Ward, Dasilva, Thomas, Davies, Cabango, Williams, Cullen, Ampadu, James, James, Koumas.
Subs: Cornell, Mepham, Ashford, Burns, Johnson, Moore, Roberts, Norrington-Davies, Harris, King, Sheehan, J Colwill.
Norway (4-3-3): Nyland, Møller Wolfe, Heggem, Ajer, Ryerson, Aursnes, Berge, Ødegaard, Schjelderup, Haaland, Bobb.
Subs: Bjortuft, Ostigard, Berg, Strand Larsen, Tangvik, Selvik, Blomberg, Pedersen, Sjovold, Aasgaard, Nusa, Botheim.
Ødegaard is fit, and starts. Brennan Johnson only on the bench for Wales.
Denmark v Portugal team news
Denmark (4-2-3-1): Hermansen, Maehle, Andersen, Provstgaard, Nissen Kristensen, Højbjerg, Hjulmand, Daramy, Damsgaard, Daghim, Højlund.
Subs: Jungdal, Hogsberg, Nelsson, Froholdt, Isaksen, Jorgensen, Skov Olsen, Bidstrup, Nartey, Gaaei, Hogh, Jorgensen.
Portugal (4-3-3): Costa; Mendes, Veiga, Rúben Dias, Cancelo; Vitinha, Neves, Fernandes; Leão, Ramos, Neto.
Subs: Dalot, Araujo, Tavares, Palhinha, Bernardo Silva, Inacio, Trincao, Fabio Silva, Soares.
With Ronaldo quitting the squad, Ruben Dias is installed as captain and Leão has taken the No 7 shirt!
More pre-match reading: Craig Bellamy said he didn’t recognise his Wales side in their poor defeat to Denmark. Ståle Solbakken, Norway’s head coach for the past six years, said “everything’s fine” with Haaland, who has scored three goals in his past two matches, and played down the idea that the City verdict has been a distraction.
Ødegaard is a doubt for the Wales game but we’ll have confirmed line-ups for tonight’s matches shortly.
Really enjoyed this piece by Porto-based Miguel Dantas, who sheds some light on how Portuguese media and fans are reacting to Ronaldo walking out on Jorge Jesus’ squad.
Ronaldo’s fans are firmly behind him, defending him fiercely on social media. Much of the general public, though, feels the player has turned his back on the national team. That was the message splashed in big letters across the front page of O Jogo, one of Portugal’s leading sports newspapers.
Across the Portuguese media, most newspapers and commentators have sided with the view that Ronaldo behaved selfishly. There are, however, some voices – particularly in newspapers and television outlets in which Ronaldo is a shareholder – who have turned their criticism towards Jesus, accusing him of ingratitude and of indefensibly going back on his word.
Preamble
Quite the maelstrom of international football tonight, with off-pitch drama circling many of the players involved (and one who is not).
You have to feel for new Portugal manager Jorge Jesus, a 72-year-old who knows more than most that time waits for no man, but has apparently had a hard time explaining to Cristiano Ronaldo that at the age of 41 and woefully out of form, he cannot expect to start every single game for one of the best international teams in the world.
Jesus has – at least publicly – been respectful to Ronaldo, starting him in the win over Wales and “resting” the veteran in the impressive 2-1 victory over Norway – Ronnie’s replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, scored the winner for Portugal. If that justified Jesus’ decision in many people’s eyes, it certainly didn’t go down with Ronaldo, who has now left the Portugal camp in a huff private jet (and which presumably suits Jesus just fine).
Now former Portugal manager Roberto Martínez made the mistake of staying blindly loyal to Ronaldo, keeping his captain on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in all but one of the five matches at the World Cup, and paid the price in losing his job to Jesus. Save for a couple of goals over World Cup minnows Uzbekistan – Ronaldo has only managed one goal (a penalty) and received one red card in the eight games since last November. Even if he was involved tonight against a very strong Denmark team, it is likely he would not get any closer to his 1,000 goal target. However, if Portugal lose to the Danes, the noise clamouring for Ronaldo’s return will be deafening.
Elsewhere, as the talisman of beleaguered Manchester City, all eyes will be on Erling Haaland to see if his club’s crisis is affecting his football. Wales v Norway is an intriguing game for a number of reasons, but one that Craig Bellamy could really do with winning – Wales are without a victory in nearly a year.
Jürgen Klopp’s tenure as Germany manager has gotten off to a rocky-ish start with a draw and Sunday’s home loss to Greece. The former Liverpool boss will hope for better against Serbia tonight but regrettably, it’s off-field issues that have dominated the headlines. Honestly, what is wrong with people?
Sandwiched between two controversial games against Israel, the Republic of Ireland face Austria in Dublin this evening. The 3-0 win over Israel last Sunday, went ahead after a majority of their squad voted to play on the eve of the away fixture in Hungary. Media reports indicated that the squad was fractured after the meeting and vote, and that goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had been insulted by teammates over his decision to withdraw “as a person or principle”. The goalkeeper is available for tonight, but will not take part on Sunday in the rematch with Israel, which the Football Association of Ireland has moved to Serbia behind closed doors.
So, that’s the background – some of it important, some of it less so – to at least some of tonight’s games. Let’s see if we can enjoy the footy. Seven games in total. I’ll do my best to keep abreast of all of them, but only have two eyes and two hands to type with.
Wales v Norway
Denmark v Portugal
Germany v Serbia
Republic of Ireland v Austria
Greece v Netherlands
Israel v Kosovo
Malta v Gibraltar
Kick-offs: 7.45pm BST
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