Euro 2016: Winners and Losers from November 14 Games
International football returned across Europe with the resumption of Euro 2016 qualifiers.
There were eight matches on Friday evening, including victories for the likes of Germany, Portugal and Denmark.
The Faroe Islands stunned the continent by beating Greece away, while teams such as Georgia, Northern Ireland and Serbia will be disappointed with their returns.
In this feature, we profile the winners and losers from the matches on November 14.
Winners: Faroe Islands
1 of 5
Claudio Ranieri was the fall guy as his Greece side were handed a shock defeat at home to the Faroe Islands.
The former European champions are struggling in Group F and headed into this one with only one point in three games. However, they would never have anticipated that they would drop more points here.
The Faroe Islands were the only side in the group with a worse record than the Greeks—the tiny state had lost all three of their opening matches.
Their fortunes were to be transformed here as a 61st-minute Joan Simun Edmundsson goal gave them a famous victory.
Despite their victory, the Faroe Islands remain rank outsiders to advance from the group, while Greece, who haven’t won since Ranieri took charge, are arguably in even greater jeopardy.
Losers: Germany
2 of 5
The champions of the world currently sit in the automatic qualification places for the European Championships, but all is not well in the German camp.
Despite their recent successes, Die Mannschaft manager Joachim Low is unhappy with his side’s performances.
Even after knocking four past Gibraltar, the World Cup-winning coach was less than satisfied with his troops.
"I am everything but satisfied with this,” the manager began, as reported by BBC Sport. “The team did not do what we wanted to do. We wanted to play as world champions, and four goals are too few."
Did a much-changed Germany perform adequately against the minnows, or were the giants right to incur the wrath of their manager?
Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo
3 of 5
Troubled Portugal secured an unconvincing three points against a plucky Armenia side in Group I.
The Southern Europeans endured a slow start to the qualification campaign—they were defeated by Albania in their opening match—but are steadily gathering momentum after dispensing of manager Paulo Bento.
Their latest victory was perfunctory and uninspiring, but it at least saw Cristiano Ronaldo break another record.
The Real Madrid superstar bagged his 23rd goal in European qualifiers to top the all-time tournament scoring charts. His 71st-minute effort put him ahead of Turkey’s Hakan Sukur and Denmark’s Jon Dahl Tomasson and firmly into the record books.
One senses there are many more goals to come from the global footballing icon.
Loser: Temuri Ketsbaia
4 of 5
“Georgian football is dead,” said Temuri Ketsbaia ahead of Georgia’s 4-0 defeat at home to Poland.
The result may have proved him right, and the manager had departed hours after his prophetic comment.
“Dead” is a strong term, but Georgia’s chances of progressing to the 2016 European Championship seem in an unhealthy state after their third defeat in the qualifying process.
Ketsbaia took the hot seat in 2009 but has been largely unable to spur his compatriots to the “next level” of European competition. As he rightly pointed out, his “tenure has ended in a sad manner." The Crusaders will do well to find a replacement with as much passion for the national game as the former Newcastle United maverick.
Winners: Scotland
5 of 5
Group D is set to go down to the wire.
With the world champions and Poland present, it looked like a major ask for the Tartan Army to seal an automatic qualifying spot from the pool.
However, with the Republic of Ireland—rejuvenated under Martin O’Neill—also involved, Scotland need to be at their best to progress.
They looked it against Eire, securing a potentially invaluable 1-0 victory with a late Shaun Maloney winner.
The former Aston Villa man has often flattered to deceive during a stop-start career, but few can accuse him of disappointing against Ireland. Indeed, Maloney was the hero as his delicious finish secured the three points.
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan will be delighted at having secured three points and successfully negotiating a tricky fixture.
Both teams sit on seven points—level with Germany—and will fancy their chances in their upcoming fixtures.
