The shock of the night in the European qualifiers came in Group B as Cyprus stunned Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 away from home.
All looked well for the hosts when Vedad Ibisevic put them ahead after six minutes, but Demetris Christofi equalised on the stroke of half-time and then scored again in the 73rd minute.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's misery was complete when Miralem Pjanic saw his penalty saved by Antonis Georgallides.
Wales also came from behind to win 2-1 and had the brilliance of Gareth Bale to thank for earning them victory in Andorra.
Bodvarsson: Scored Iceland's opener
The minnows took the lead through Ildefons Lima's sixth-minute penalty, but the Real Madrid forward equalised with a towering head and then won it nine minutes from time with a well-placed free-kick.
In Group A, Iceland laid down an early marker with an emphatic 3-0 win at home to 10-man Turkey.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson put them ahead after 17 minutes and the visitors suffered another blow when they had Omer Toprak sent off in the 59th minute, having picked up two yellow cards in five minutes.
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scored two quickfire goals to round off the win.
Czech Republic: Celebrating Dockal's goal
Elsewhere in the group, Holland began their bid to qualify for Euro 2016 by slipping to a last-gasp 2-1 defeat away toCzech Republic.
The World Cup semi-finalists, now with Guus Hiddink back in charge after Louis van Gaal's departure to Manchester United, fell behind in the 22nd minute, Borek Dockal blasting home a super effort off the inside of a post.
Stefan de Vrij levelled 10 minutes after the break, but the Dutch were undone at the death as Vaclav Pilar capitalised on some kamikaze defending to net from close range in injury-time.
Kazakhstan and Latvia drew 0-0.
Italy, like Holland with a new man - Antonio Conte - in charge following the World Cup, bounced back from their disappointing showing in Brazil with a 2-0 win in Norway in Group H.
Luka Modric scored seconds after kick off to give Croatia the lead against Malta
A goal in each half from Simone Zaza and Leonardo Bonucci settled the match.
Croatia laboured to a 2-0 win over 10-manMalta thanks to strikes from Luka Modric and Andrej Kramaric after the visitors had had Steve Borg sent off just after the half-hour mark.
Bulgaria won 2-1 in Azerbaijan.
Iliyan Mitsanski put the away side in front, but Dimitrij Nazarov levelled early in the second half.
Ventsislav Hristov headed the winner four minutes after coming off the bench.
No comments:
Post a Comment