Another day full of EURO 2016 qualifiers has passed, with Spain, England, Sweden and the Ukraine coming out as the winners on the way to next year’s major soccer tournament in Europe.
Slovenia 2-3 England: The Three Lions have won all six of their EURO qualifiers so far, and thanks to Jack Wilshere’s brace and Wayne Rooney’s score, England was able to cement that accomplishment in a significant win over Slovenia. Wilshere’s two goals were blasted into the upper-90 in wonderful manner, while Rooney netted his goal in the 86th minute, in a more casual way, to place him at third all-time (48) on England’s top-scorer list. Slovenia opened the game up in the 37th minute when Milivoje Novakovic, off a feed from Josip Illicic, outsmarted an offside trap to convert an attempt past goalkeeper Joe Hart. Nejc Pecnik’s downward header equalized two minutes before Rooney won it.
Spain 1-0 Belarus: Spain is looking good in Group C after Manchester City midfielder David Silva was the lone scorer for Vicente del Bosque’s side, who have solidified a fifth qualifier win and are now three points behind Slovakia. The first half for the Red Furies was dissatisfying to say the least, as Juventus standout Alvaro Morata knocked a quality chance wide of goal, and Belarus keeper Andrey Gorbunov thwarted Pedro on two occasions, while Silva did not receive a penalty kick appeal off Maksim Bordachev’s challenge. Gorbunov was the main reason Belarus was capable of staying close in this one, dealing with 13 shots on goal–several of which were fairly difficult to handle.
[FOLLOW: PST’s EURO 2016 coverage]
Ukraine 3-0 Luxembourg: Ukraine needed this win, and they got it. Hoping to remaining within distance of the top two in Group C, the Yellow-Blues rose to the occasion in the second half, scoring three straight goals to cruise to victory. Daniel Da Mota struck the post for the away side in the opening minutes, while the home team struggled to put one in after having their fair share of chances to start. The second half told a different story, though. Artem Kravets chested in Ukraine’s first of the match, Denys Garmash followed with the header and Yevhen Konoplyanka finished it off in the 86th minute.
Sweden 3-1 Montenegro: Three goals within seven minutes. Two unsurprisingly from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. That’s what gave Sweden this win over Montenegro to fix the squad at second place in Group G right now, four points behind Austria. For the first goal, Sebastian Larsson located Albin Ekdal and fed to him on the right. In turn, Ekdal executed a well-placed cross for the first goal–a header from Marcus Berg. Ibrahimovic grabbed the ball of a throw-in and blasted a long distance strike for the second, and then easily slid the third past Montenegro goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic. Dejan Damjanovic converted for Montenegro with a penalty kick following Stefan Mugosa being hauled down in the penalty area.
Lithuania 1-2 Switzerland: It’s a comeback win over Lithuania that has the Swiss moving up to second place, six points back from England in Group E. Fedor Cernych handed the home squad the lead in the middle of the second half, but Josip Drmic quickly made up for the lapse with an equalizer five minutes later. Inter Milan midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri took Breel Embolo’s assist and placed it low for the 84th-minute advantage.
Other results
Russia 0-1 Austria
Estonia 2-0 San Marino
Slovakia 2-1 Macedonia
