Euro Qualifiers: England stay perfect with Ukraine win; Ronaldo continue goalscoring exploits
England continued their perfect start to UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying with a 2-0 victory against Ukraine, while Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in a six-goal win for Portugal and Italy got off the mark against Malta.
Harry Kane underlined his status as England’s greatest international goalscorer and Bukayo Saka dazzled again in a comfortable 2-0 win over Ukraine to put Gareth Southgate’s team in control of Euro 2024 qualifying Group C on Sunday.
Fresh from scoring his 54th goal in the 2-1 victory over Italy on Thursday, Kane made up for a couple of missed chances to break the stalemate in the 37th minute.
Arsenal youngster Saka, again England’s brightest spark, then doubled the lead before halftime with a sensational curler that left the visitors and their 4 000 fans deflated.
Ukraine had their moments and enjoyed some pressure after the interval but never really looked capable of claiming only a second victory over England in 10 attempts.
The second half was tepid although it was noteworthy for an international debut for Brentford forward Ivan Toney who came on 10 minutes from the end as a substitute for Kane.
The 2022 World Cup quarterfinalists have six points from their opening two games and already look firm favourites to top a group that also contains Malta and North Macedonia.
Ukraine, who came agonisingly close to qualifying for the World Cup but lost a playoff to Wales, will be relieved to have got their toughest fixture out of the way.
Cristiano Ronaldo extended his record tallies for international goals and caps as he struck twice for Portugal in a 6-0 victory in Luxembourg.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his record-breaking form for Portugal as he grabbed two more goals in his country’s 6-0 thrashing of Luxembourg in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Sunday, giving them a second win in four days.
The 38-year-old grabbed a double against Liechtenstein on Thursday and scored twice more in Luxembourg to extend his record tally of international goals to 122 in 198 appearances.
Joao Felix, Bernando Silva, Otavio and Rafael Leao added the other goals to put Portugal top of Group J after an easy start to their qualifying campaign.
New coach Roberto Martinez restored Ronaldo to the starting line-up last week and kept faith with him for the match in Luxembourg, where it took only nine minutes for the veteran superstar to open the scoring as he touched home Nuno Mendes’s soaring header.
Joao Felix doubled the lead in the 15th minute, rising high to get onto the end of Silva’s cross. Silva then himself headed home a powerful effort three minutes later after being set up by Joao Palhinha.
Bruno Fernandes set up Ronaldo for the fourth, just past the half hour mark, with a ball over the defence that was finished with pin-point accuracy.
Luxembourg looked bedraggled in the first half but offered more resistance after the break before Rafael Leao’s looping cross allowed fellow substitute Otavio to head home Portugal’s fifth.
Ruben Neves, yet to score for Portugal, struck the crossbar with a 83rd minute freekick before a penalty was awarded straight after when Luxembourg captain Laurent Jans tripped Rafael Leao.
The AC Milan forward got up off the turf to take the kick but his effort was saved by Luxembourg keeper Anthony Moris.
But Rafael Leao ran half the length of the field to latch onto Reuben Neves’ pass and cut inside before squeezing the ball home for a 6-0 scoreline with two minutes remaining.
Italy bounced back from their loss to England with a 2-0 success in Malta. Goals by forward Mateo Retegui and midfielder Matteo Pessina steered Italy to a 2-0 win over Malta in their Euro 2024 qualification Group C clash at Sunday.p>
Defending champions Italy were looking to get back on track after starting the campaign with a 2-1 loss against England on Thursday.
The hosts started the match very defensively, forcing Italy to build up play slowly from the midfield and look for openings.
Malta could even have taken an early lead when Alexander Satariano managed to send a half-volley towards goal from inside the area, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma got his fingertips on the attempt and pushed the ball over the bar.
However, Italy opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Retegui broke free from his marker to power in a header from a corner with Pessina doubling the lead after 27 minutes when he tapped Emerson’s cross in from a short distance.
Vincenzo Grifo was close to make it three for the visitors shortly after but Malta goalkeeper Henry Bonello skilfully blocked his attempt.
Italy came close to increasing their lead in the second half when Gianluca Scamacca produced an overhead kick from a corner but Bonello came to the rescue again with a one-handed reaction save.
Iceland enjoyed a landmark result as they prevailed 7-0 in Liechtenstein, the team’s biggest winning margin in an official match. Aron Gunnarsson contributed a second-half hat-trick, scoring more goals for his country in 16 minutes than in his previous 100 outings.
Rasmus Højlund followed up his hat-trick against Finland with the opening two goals for Denmark in Kazakhstan, but the 20-year-old forward finished on the losing side as the hosts scored three goals in the last 17 minutes to complete a remarkable comeback win.
