Tops
After being sparkling during his team’s victory at Euro 2021, Federico Chiesa disappeared from the radar for a while. Undermined by knee injuries with Juventus, the Bianconeri winger took time to return to his best level. But it was worth the wait. Established this evening in his favorite position, right winger, he was the great architect of the victory against North Macedonia (5-2). On his first goal, Barella, author of two assists this evening, sent him a nice backheel. Chiesa took his chance from distance, and placed an absolutely unstoppable half-volley. On his second goal, he showed that he had regained all his speed qualities, before beating the goalkeeper with a beautiful curling right. The providential man.
In a homogeneous group, it was Denmark who took the upper hand and became the first to be guaranteed to play the biggest European competition in Germany next June. Opposed to Slovenia, Kasper Schmeichel’s teammates had to fight to achieve a narrow success (2-1). And it’s done thanks to the achievements of Maehle, and especially the indestructible Thomas Delaney. At 32, the Anderlecht winger is still essential to his selection and allows his team to compete in a fifth final phase of a major competition in a row.
If you wanted the scoop on the Three Lions evening, you’ll have to come back. Gareth Southgate’s men won against Malta (2-0), with a goal from their inevitable captain Harry Kane. If it was an anecdotal meeting, since England already qualified faced Malta, an eliminated team, the Bayern Munich scorer still took the opportunity to improve his statistics. As a result, he scored his eighth goal in these qualifiers, his fifteenth in his last eight matches. A serious asset for those who will be looking for their first Euro in June 2024.
Flops
Opposed to the Czech Republic and third in their group before the match, Poland played a bad trick. While they opened the scoring, Robert Lewandowski’s teammates failed to maintain their advantage (1-1). As a result, they finished third in the standings and failed to qualify via the playoffs. They will have one last chance during the play-offs. For their part, the Czechs can qualify directly if they beat Moldova on Monday evening.
While the Squadra Azzura seemed to be on the move towards Rome, leading 3-0 at half-time against North Macedonia, Luciano Spalletti’s men played to scare each other. In the space of 20 minutes, they watched helplessly as the astonishing newcomer Jani Atanasov scored a double. A defeat against North Macedonia in a decisive match? This is a scenario that the Italians had already experienced, and which ultimately did not happen again on Friday evening. La Nazionale keeps its destiny between its feet, but will have to win against Ukraine on Monday evening. Donnaruma and his team will have to demonstrate a mentality of steel.