EURO 2024 play-off semi-final round-up: Greece, Poland and Wales through
Greece, Poland and Wales were among the six teams to book their places in the UEFA EURO 2024 play-off finals following victories on Thursday night.
Jakub Piotrowski’s piledriver was the pick of the goals as Poland progressed in style in Warsaw, where Przemysław Frankowski slotted in to open the scoring and Maksim Paskotši was dismissed for the visitors before the break.
Piotr Zieliński doubled his side’s lead once the action resumed, and the play-off debutants went further ahead through Piotrowski, an own goal by Karol Mets and Sebastian Szymański’s close-range effort. Martin Vetkal hit a consolation 12 minutes from time for his first international goal.
Wales will go for a third straight EURO finals appearance on Tuesday after a comfortable and dominant 4-1 win over Finland in Cardiff.
David Brooks put them ahead in the third minute with a cushioned volley and although Neco Williams then curled in after Harry Wilson’s free-kick, Teemu Pukki pulled one back almost immediately.
After Brennan Johnson had restored the two-goal cushion moments after half-time, Ben Davies had a header ruled out for offside; however, Daniel James made sure of the victory late on.
An Albert Gudmundsson hat-trick powered Iceland through an at-times very even play-off semi-final against Israel in Budapest.
The hosts led first when Eran Zahavi converted a centimetre-perfect penalty but Iceland responded quickly with two goals in four minutes. Gudmundsson produced a wonderful curling free-kick before Arnór Ingvi Traustason’s deflected volley beat Omri Glazer before half-time.
In a thrilling second half, Israel’s Roy Revivo was dismissed for a powerful challenge before Zahavi spurned the chance to level by sending his second spot kick wide of the left post. Gudmundsson tapped in twice on the counter-attack to rubber-stamp victory and Iceland’s play-off final date with Ukraine in Wrocław.
Two goals in the last six minutes saw Ukraine dramatically come from behind to secure a place in Tuesday’s Path B final against Iceland.
Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead in Zenica when Amar Dedić cut inside on the right and put in a low cross which Mykola Matvienko turned beyond Real Madrid keeper Andriy Lunin.
Roman Yaremchuk came off the bench to fire in an 85th-minute equaliser and the forward then made the winner with a run and cross which was headed in powerfully by Artem Dovbyk
Greece cruised to a 5-0 win to continue their quest to qualify for their first EURO finals for 12 years.
The hosts were four goals up within 40 minutes in Athens through an early Tasos Bakasetas penalty, a diving header from Dimitris Pelkas, a close-range conversion from Fotis Ioannidis and a leaping nod by Dimitris Kourbelis.
Kazakhstan were unable to show the form that harvested six wins in their qualifying group, and their night ended with midfielder Yerkin Tapalov scoring an own goal.
Georgia await Greece in Tuesday’s Path C play-off final.
Budu Zivzivadze was the hero for Georgia as a double against Luxembourg fired his nation to within one win of a first-ever appearance at a major international finals.
The 30-year-old forward opened the scoring on 40 minutes as he steered a shot into the roof of the net following a rebound from a corner.
Luxembourg’s task became even trickier when defender Maxime Chanot was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, and shortly afterwards Zivzivadze ended the game as a contest by finishing for his second from Levan Shengelia’s pinpoint cross.
