Euro 2016: Winners and Losers from November 15 Games
The European Championship qualifiers continued on Saturday night with another batch of matches across the continent.
There were nine games Saturday, with victories for the likes of Spain, England and Switzerland.
Some nations will not, however, be happy with their showings. The likes of Russia, Moldova and Estonia will all have felt that they should have taken more from potentially-winnable contests.
In this feature, we present the winners and losers from the November 15 European Championship qualifiers.
Winners: England
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A sluggish first half didn’t augur well for England, but by the end of the Three Lions’ victory over Slovenia there were many beaming faces in Wembley.
Jordan Henderson’s own goal gave the visitors the advantage, but it was short-lived as a Wayne Rooney penalty and a Danny Welbeck brace helped to perpetuate England’s fine start to the Euro 2016 qualification campaign.
In truth, either Welbeck—who delivered a glittering performance—or Rooney—who capped his 100th appearance for his nation with a fine run, a penalty earned and a successful conversion.
Their performance wasn’t exceptional, but the whole team deserve credit for coming back from a goal down to secure a potentially important victory and extend their 100 percent qualification record.
Only one other team to have played four matches, Slovakia, has won every single one of their matches.
Losers: Russia
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Worryingly for Russia, their Saturday-night defeat at the hands of Austria has seen them fall five points behind their vanquishers.
Das Team, who haven’t successfully negotiated a qualifying tournament since 1998, will feel confident of a place at Euro 2016 having won three and drawn one of their opening four matches.
Russia, on the other hand, look set to slog it out with Sweden for the second automatic spot.
Fabio Capello’s side were abject at the World Cup, where they were one of the tournament’s worst sides, and their slump has continued over the subsequent months.
A victory over Liechtenstein was followed up by draws with Sweden and lowly Moldova. Their defeat by Austria—thanks to a late Rubin Okotie winner—has only increased the pressure on the veteran Italian manager.
Winners: San Marino
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For the majority of teams in European Championship qualifying, a home stalemate against Estonia would be a disappointing result.
For San Marino, who are currently 208th in the FIFA world rankings, however, the draw represents a historic occasion in their footballing history.
The tiny European nation had never won a single point in the Euros' qualifying process before Saturday night, and their clean sheet helped them end a 61-game streak of consecutive defeats.
Since their first-ever official match, back in 1990, San Marino have never won a competitive fixture.
Perhaps that record will also be broken over the coming months!
Losers: Moldova
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It feels a little churlish to focus on Moldova rather than Liechtenstein in this slide, but the Eastern Europeans delivered a truly dismal performance in front of their home fans.
A goal from Franz Burgmeier, currently playing for Vaduz in the Swiss Challenge League, was enough to give the minnows a 1-0 victory in Chisinau.
Putting the defeat into context, Liechtenstein hadn’t previously won a match for three years and—incredibly—hadn’t won an away qualifying match for over a decade.
This run came to an end on Moldova’s watch, and for that, Alexandru Curtianu’s side, who currently reside at at the bottom of Group G, are our second “losers” from Saturday evening’s matches.
Winner: Isco
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While there was nothing particularly eye-catching about the scoreline, as Spain beat Belarus 3-0, there was a lot that was special about Isco’s goal.
The midfielder delivered an outstanding performance as the Eastern Europeans were put to the sword in Murcia.
These are transitional times for La Roja, but if Saturday night was anything to go by, the 22-year-old Real Madrid man will be a big part of the former world champions’ future.
Isco left the pitch to a standing ovation after curling a delicious effort past the Belarus goalkeeper. It was his first start for Spain and his first goal.
Speaking after the match, however, as reported by Goal, per Ben Hayward, manager Vicente Del Bosque was oddly unmoved by the player’s contribution: "Isco played very well, but he got caught up in trying to do things too elegantly."
The coach may not have been impressed, but we certainly were!
