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The semi-finals of the UEFA European Championships playoffs for the 2024 tournament in Germany this summer took place this evening with some hammerings thrown up as they set up the pivotal finals on Tuesday evening.
This is a round-up and summary of each semi-final that took place this evening as the final three spots in Germany get set to be filled in the next week…
Wales 4-1 Finland in Cardiff
Poland 5-1 Estonia in Warsaw
Wales dominated their clash with Finland at the Cardiff City Stadium, taking the lead through David Brooks after three minutes before rounding off a 4-1 win in the 86th minute via second-half substitute, Daniel James. Neco Williams scored a stunning free-kick late on in the first-half before Teemu Pukki pulled a goal back just before the break but then Brennan Johnson soon re-established the two goal lead early in the second-half before the aforementioned clinching goal from James.
Wales will welcome Poland to the Welsh capital on Tuesday evening after the eastern Europeans annihilated minnows Estonia by five goals to one in Warsaw. Przemyslaw Frankowski opened the scoring in the 23rd minute before Maksim Paskotsi was sent off a few minutes later. Goals from Piotr Zielinski, Kamil Piotrowski, an own goal from Karol Mets and then Sebastian Szymanski made it 5-0 before a consolation goal from Martin Vetkal.
Final | WAL vs POL in Cardiff
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-2 Ukraine in Sarajevo
Israel 1-4 Iceland in Budapest
After a disappointing UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying campaign, it was a bit of a major shock to see Bosnia-Herzegovina take a 56th minute lead over Ukraine via a Mykola Matvyenko own goal. The ‘golden generation’ of Ukraine, though, coached by Serhiy Rebrov, produced a stirring late come back to move through to the final in the neutral venue of Poland with late strikes from La Liga forwards Roman Yaremchuk and Artem Dovbyk.
It will not be another team playing in a neutral venue that they face, though, as Israel were surprisingly hammered by a poor Icelandic side in Budapest. Eran Zahavi gave the Israelites the lead after 31 minutes from the penalty spot before Genoa forward Albert Gudmundsson equalised. Arnor Truastason then gave the Icelanders a half-time lead. Roy Revivo was sent off in the 73rd minute for the nominal hosts before Albert Gudmundsson scored two late goals to complete a hat-trick.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WHAT A MOMENT! 😱😱<br><br>Ukraine turn this Play-off semi-final around in the final minutes as Girona's Artem Dovbyk puts them 2-1 up! 🇺🇦<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EURO2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EURO2024</a> <a href="https://t.co/9MaWD8T8KR">pic.twitter.com/9MaWD8T8KR</a></p>— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/ViaplaySportsUK/status/1770928164321050821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Final | UKR vs ISL in Wroclaw
Georgia 2-0 Luxembourg in Tbilisi
Greece 5-0 Kazakhstan in Athens
It is quite a strong Path C of UEFA EURO 2024 playoff qualification and that was shown by a Georgia side that have some really impressive emerging talents under Willy Sagnol. They took a 40th minute lead via Budu Zivzivadze before controversy in the second-half. In the 56th minute, there were appeals for a Georgian foul waved away, Luxembourg went down the other end and seemingly equalised via Gerson Rodrigues but that was chalked off as a foul was given via VAR due to Maxime Chanot being sent off as a result. Georgia then clinched a final spot with a second goal from another strike by Zivzivadze.
Gus Poyet has transformed Greece into an effective team once again after pushing the Netherlands close in normal qualification for UEFA EURO 2024. With some good players sprinkled through their squad, the southern Europeans, who won the tournament in 2004 but haven’t been at a major tournament since 2014, were emphatic and convincing victors over a Kazakhstan side that narrowly missed out on automatic qualification. Tasos Bakasetas, Dimitris Pelkas, Fotis Ioannidis and Dimitrios Kourbelis made it 4-0 by half-time before a late Erkin Tapalov own goal rounded off the tie.
Final | GEO vs GRE in Tbilisi
