Oct 15, 2023 at 7:57 PM Update: 15 minutes ago
Ion Nicolaescu helped Moldova to a surprising point in the European Championship qualifying on Sunday. The SC Heerenveen striker scored for his country in the away match against Poland: 1-1. Earlier in the evening, Switzerland escaped disgrace in a spectacle.
Poland surprisingly fell behind against Moldova after half an hour in Warsaw. Heerenveen striker Nicolaescu found the goal after a corner kick. Early in the second half, Karol Swiderski scored the equalizer.
Heerenveen took over Nicolaescu from the Israeli Beitar Jerusalem last summer. The attacker is Moldova’s all-time top scorer with fourteen goals.
Earlier in the evening, the Czech Republic won with difficulty against the Faroe Islands: 1-0. Tomás Soucek only scored the only goal of the match from a penalty fifteen minutes before the end.
Thanks to the victory, the Czech Republic takes second place in group E from Poland, which has to fear for European Championship participation. Albania remains the surprising leader in this group.
Standings group E
Albania 6-13 (+8) Czech Republic 6-11 (+3) Poland 7-10 (0) Moldova 6-9 (0) Faroe Islands 7-1 (-11) Joy among the Swiss after the equalizer in injury time. Photo: Reuters
Switzerland escapes disgrace in spectacle
In group I, Switzerland escaped an embarrassment against Belarus: 3-3. Xherdan Shaqiri gave Switzerland the lead in St. Gallen after just under half an hour. The Chicago Fire midfielder beautifully placed the ball from the edge of the box into the top left corner.
In the second half Belarus reversed the deficit. After an hour of play, the visitors leveled through Max Ebong, who headed home from a measured cross from the left. Eight minutes later, Denis Polyakov gave his country the lead with a beautiful header.
The final phase was spectacular. Dmitri Antilevski thought he would give Belarus the three points with the 1-3, but the Swiss managed to score another point. Manuel Akanji scored the tying goal with a tap-in and Zeki Amdouni scored the equalizer shortly afterwards.
Due to the draw, Switzerland lost the top position in Group I to Romania, which easily beat Andorra later in the evening: 5-0. Former Ajax player Razvan Marin converted a penalty in Bucharest, where the other goals were scored by Nicolae Stanciu, Ianis Hagi and Florinel Coman.
Standings group I
Romania 8-16 (+9) Switzerland 7-15 (+12) Israel 6-11 (0) Kosovo 7-7 (0) Belarus 8-6 (-7) Andorra 8-2 (-14)
View all results, standings and the program in the European Championship qualification
2023-10-15 20:52:44
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