UEFA WC Qualifiers round-up: Ronaldo scored 4-goals in his international comeback; France, Netherlands, Belgium earn 3 points
Oct 9, 2016 at 1:02 AM
Ronaldo made a comeback to international circuit with 4 goals as Portugal outclassed Andorra while Netherlands, France, Belgium added comfortable 3 points to their account during the Friday’s (07/10/2016) clashes of 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification from UEFA zone.
In a Group B encounter, Euro 2016 champion Portugal outclassed Andorra by 6-0. With the 4 goals, Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo made his international comeback from the injury, which he got in the Euro 2016 final against France.
Ronaldo took just 2 minutes to score the first goal of the match for Portugal. 2 minutes later, Ronaldo scored another goal for Portugal through a header. This time Ricardo Quaresma put a good cross to Ronaldo which the Real Madrid star successfully netted with a header. Just before the end of the first half, Joao Cancelo (44’) added another goal as the hosts Portugal took 3-0 lead against the visitors Andorra.
Just 2 minutes of the second half, Ronaldo completed his 4th international hat-trick. In the 68 minutes, Ronaldo scored his 4th goal in this match as Portugal took 5-0 lead over the visitors. The visitors went down to 9 men on 70 minutes as Jordi Rubio and Marc Rebes were shown red cards at 62 minutes and 70 minutes respectively. Rubio was shown two yellow cards in 53 minutes and 62 minutes respectively while Rebes was shown a direct red card in the match. Andre Silva added another goal in the 86 minutes as Portugal claimed their first victory in this 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification by a huge 6-0 margin.
In the other match of Group B, Switzerland beat the hosts Hungary 3-2 while hosts Latvia suffered a defeat against Faroe Islands 2-0.
With the help of Valentin Stocker’s late goal, Switzerland beat the hosts Hungary by 3-2. After the first half ended 0-0, Haris Seferovic put Switzerland ahead 6 minutes into the second half. 2 minutes later, Adam Szalai scored the equalizer goal for the hosts. In the 67 minutes, Ricardo Rodriguez once again put Switzerland ahead which was answered by Szalai’s another equalizer goal just 4 minutes later. On 89 minutes, Stocker scored the winning goal for Switzerland.
With the help of Sonni Nattestad (19′) and Joan Edmondson’s (70′) goals, Faroe Islands beat the hosts Latvia by 2-0.
In the Group A encounters, Euro 2016 runner-up France beat Bulgaria 4-1 while Netherlands beat Belarus also by a 4-1 margin and Sweden clinched a 1-0 victory against Luxemburg.
Hosts France went behind via an early penalty goal from Mihail Aleksandrov as France was down to 0-1 just 6 minutes into the match. On 23 minutes, France made a comeback into the match with Kevin Gameiro’s equalizer goal through a header. 3 minutes later, Dimitri Payet put ahead the hosts by 2-1. In the 38 minutes, Antoine Griezmann netted the 3rd goal for France. Gameiro scored his second goal in this match at 59 minutes as France took a 4-1 lead as the hosts went on to register an easy win.
On the other hand, hosts Netherlands beat Belarus by 4-1. With Quincy Promes’s two goals in 15 minutes and 31 minutes, Netherlands took a 2-0 lead in the first half. In the beginning of the second half, Belarus reduced the hosts’ lead by 2-1 with the help of Aleksey Rios’s goal (47’). Netherlands secured their victory with the next two goals of Davy Klaassen and Vincent Janssen in the 55th minute and 64th minute respectively.
Sweden narrowly beat the hosts Luxemburg with the only goal from Mikael Lustig on 58 minutes. The hosts’ centre back Kevin Malget was sent off in the 82nd minute after he was booked for the second time in this match. Malget was booked for the first time in the match on 66 minutes.
In the Group H clashes, Belgium beat Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia beat Gibraltar and both the match results were 4-0. Also, Greece claimed a 2-0 victory against Cyprus.
Hosts Belgium went ahead with the help of visitors’ centre-back Emir Spahic’s own goal at 26 minutes. Eden Hazard scored the next goal for Belgium 3 minutes later and then Toby Alderweireld and Romelu Lukaku added another two goals in 60 minutes and 79 minutes respectively.
After a goalless first half between Estonia and Gibraltar, Mattias Kait opened the scoreline for the hosts Estonia just 2 minutes in the second half. About 5 minutes later, Konstantin Vassiljev scored the second goal for Estonia. Kait scored his second goal of the match in 70 minutes while Sergei Mosnikov extended the lead to 4-0 for the hosts in the 88 minutes of the match.
Hosts Greece clinched a 2-0 victory against Cyprus with the goals of Kostas Mitroglou (12′) and Petros Mantalos (42′).
Brief Scores:
Group A
France 4 – 1 Bulgaria
Netherlands 4 – 1 Belarus
Luxembourg 0 – 1 Sweden
Group B
Portugal 6 – 0 Andorra
Hungary 2 – 3 Switzerland
Latvia 0 – 2 Faroe Islands
Group H
Belgium 4 – 0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Estonia 4 – 0 Gibraltar
Greece 2 – 0 Cyprus
Group Standings after the end of Round 2
Group A
Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
1 | Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 4 |
2 | France | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 4 |
3 | Sweden | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 |
4 | Bulgaria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 3 |
5 | Belarus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 1 |
6 | Luxembourg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group B
Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
1 | Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 6 |
2 | Faroe Islands | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 4 |
3 | Portugal | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 3 |
4 | Latvia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
5 | Hungary | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 |
6 | Andorra | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -7 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group H
Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
1 | Belgium | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +7 | 6 |
2 | Greece | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +5 | 6 |
3 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 |
4 | Estonia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
5 | Cyprus | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 |
6 | Gibraltar | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -7 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)