TOPS
Masters of their destiny before the match against Armenia, Luka Modric’s teammates played at scaring each other. Worse still, they even saw themselves go third in Group D, when Wales took the lead against Turkey in the other Group D match. Livakovic even had to pull out all the stops by winning his face-off. face-to-face with Hovhannisyan at the half-hour mark. But ultimately, the recent semi-finalists of the World Cup in Qatar have won their ticket to Germany next June. Just before half-time, Budimir took advantage of a perfect cross from Majer to open the scoring (43rd). A goal which freed the Croats, and allowed them to offer a second act of a completely different ilk, where their technical mastery allowed them to take the upper hand. And finally to win (1-0).
Opposed to Switzerland for the last day of the qualifiers, with first place in Group I at stake for the winner, the Romanians once again created a surprise by winning 1-0 and therefore gaining top status serial in the December 2 draw. And it is far from undeserved, the 48th nation in the world having dominated its opponent, despite being 34 places higher in the FIFA rankings. A victory which completes a more than successful playoff, without the slightest defeat. Local star Stanciu finished as his team’s top scorer, with three goals scored. And could well help his team to be one of the nice surprises of Euro 2024.
FLOPS
Despite a very high level first hour of play, and the support of a burning Cardiff City Stadium, the Dragons failed to finish in the top two of Group D. To do this, they had to beat Turkey, to whom they were opposed Tuesday evening. And hope that Croatia does not win against Armenia. But neither happened. However, thanks to a superb curl from Neco Williams in the eighth minute of play, the Welsh saw themselves in Germany. But Lille’s Yazici, who came on in the first half, dampened the local hopes, something that the Welsh rain had not managed to do. Following a foul by Ben Davies in his area on Yildiz, he won his penalty against Danny Ward. The score then no longer changed (1-1). As a result, the Welsh will have to go through the dams.
Faced with Romania, supposedly weaker, and counting on its starting stars at kick-off, Switzerland could not do better than losing in Bucharest. Xhaka, Akanji and company delivered a very poor performance, which condemned them to finish in second place. Yet placed in a group which seemed well within its reach, the Nati only managed to sign four victories in ten matches. She therefore abandons the hope of being among the top seeds at the Euro, and will have to work hard to hope to get out of the group stages.