5 yıl önce

Czechs upset England, Portugal and France close in on Euro 2020

European champions Portugal and high-flying Ukraine edged closer to reaching next year’s European Championship with comfortable home wins in qualifying Group B on Friday.

England's Harry Kane looks dejected after losing the Euro 2020 Qualifier Group A match against Czech Republic at Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic on October 11, 2019. Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

England suffered their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years when they lost 2-1 away to the Czech Republic in their Euro 2020 qualifying Group A clash on Friday.

It was a fully deserved win for the Czechs. They played with verve and determination against a sluggish England who delivered their worst performance since Gareth Southgate took over as manager.

The defeat ended England’s decade-long unbeaten run in European Championship and World Cup qualifiers going back to a 1-0 loss to Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk exactly 10 years ago.

Group A’s other game between Montenegro and Bulgaria ended goalless.

European champions Portugal and high-flying Ukraine edged closer to reaching next year’s European Championship with comfortable home wins in qualifying Group B on Friday.

Ukraine sank Lithuania 2-0 to stay top of the group on 16 points from six games, followed by Portugal who are on 11 points from five matches after beating Luxembourg 3-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo among the scorers.

Third-placed Serbia have seven from five, Luxembourg have four points from six games and Lithuania are bottom with one point from six matches.

Olivier Giroud’s lack of club action proved no handicap as the Chelsea striker’s penalty earned France a 1-0 away win against Iceland to put Les Bleus closer to next year’s European Championship finals on Friday.

Giroud, who has only played 101 minutes in the Premier League this season, converted a second-half spot kick as injury-hit France stayed second in Group H behind Turkey who beat Albania 1-0 thanks to a last-gap Cenk Tosun goal.

France and Turkey, who meet at the Stade de France on Monday, have 18 points but the world champions are behind by virtue of their 2-0 loss in Konya in June.

Third-placed Iceland have 12 points, Albania nine, and Andorra are second to last on three points after beating Moldova 1-0 for their first-ever Euro qualifying points.

Friday results:

Group A
Czech Republic 2 England 1
Montenegro 0 Bulgaria 0

Group B
Portugal 3 Luxembourg 0
Ukraine 2 Lithuania 0

Group H
Andorra 1 Moldova 0
Iceland 0 France 1
Turkey 1 Albania 0

Fixtures:

Saturday October 12
Group D

Georgia v Rep of Ireland
Denmark v Switzerland

Group F

Faroe Islands v Romania
Norway v Spain
Malta v Sweden

Group J

Bosnia & Herzegovina v Finland
Liechtenstein v Armenia
Italy v Greece

Sunday October 13