MADRID, 21 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The football teams of Wales, Ukraine and Georgia will respectively play against those of Poland, Iceland and Greece in the finals of the three playoffs designed by UEFA to give the last three qualifying tickets to the next men’s European Championship.
Each playoff is being played in quadrangular fashion, with the semifinals and each final a single match, to crown three champions and thus complete the list of 24 teams that will participate this summer in Germany during UEFA’s largest continental tournament.
Within Route A, whose winner will join the Netherlands, Austria and France in Group D of the EURO, both the Welsh and Poles took advantage of being hosts to resolve the ‘semi-finals’. In Cardiff, the ‘dragons’ beat Finland 4-1 with goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and Daniel James; Teemu Pukki’s visiting goal was a mere anecdote.
The next rival for the Welsh will be Poland, who beat Estonia 5-1. At the National Stadium in Warsaw, Przemyslaw Frankowski opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and a few minutes later an expulsion of Maksim Paskotsi, for a double yellow, paved the way for the hosts. After the break, a goal from Piotr Zielinski, another from Jakub Piotrowski, another from Sebastian Szymanski and an own goal from Karol Mets closed the game.
Within Route B, whose winner will join Belgium, Slovakia and Romania in Group E of the EURO, Ukraine resolved ‘in extremis’ (1-2) its ‘semi’ away from home against Bosnia-Herzegovina. An own goal by Mykola Matviienko had put the Bosnians ahead in the 57th minute, but two LaLiga EA Sports acquaintances came back for the Ukrainians; In the 85th minute Roman Yaremchuk (Valencia) scored and in the 88th minute Artem Dovbyk (Girona) scored.
The Ukrainian team’s next rival will be Iceland, which scored another of the night’s victories. In exile in Budapest for the Israeli team, a penalty converted by Eran Zahavi put the locals ahead. However, a hat-trick by Albert Gudmundsson led the Icelandic comeback (1-4), rounded off by a goal from Arnor Traustason.
Within Route C, whose winner will join Turkey, Portugal and the Czech Republic in Group F of the EURO, a double from Budu Zivzivadze led Georgia to a 2-0 victory against Luxembourg. In the decisive match for the continental ticket, the Georgians will face a Greece that defeated Kazakhstan at home by a resounding 5-0.