Austria with a bad defeat: France does not enter the qualifiers

Saturday 4 September 2021

Austria badly defeated
France is not in the qualifiers

The World Cup qualifiers reach the end of the first half. The French are still undefeated, but they are not convinced of anything. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has an exclamation point. On the other hand, the Austrians are dealt severe blows against the competent Israelis. Has the qualification already been completed?

World champion France stumbles to the top of the table, Louis van Gaal scores his first win, and Austria suffers a near-impossible defeat in Israel: World Cup qualifiers are at half-time with many matches contested. The French were disappointed again in particular, in Ukraine the defending champions did not get past 1-1 (0-1) – and are still top of Group D.

Ukraine had taken the lead with Mykola Shabarenko (44), and Anthony Martial (50) equalizing. With 9 points, France is now ahead of Finland and Ukraine (both 5) – but the Finns have played two fewer games. Thanks to a goal from Bayer Leverkusen’s Joel Bohjanpalo, they beat Kazakhstan 1-0 (0-0).

For Van Gaal, there was the first success in the second game after his return as Bond coach for the Netherlands. The important goal 4-0 (1-0) against Montenegro was on Memphis Depay (38, penalty kick / 62), Jorginho Wijnaldum (70) and Cody Gakbo (76). Oranje is now second in Group G – with 10 points, however, equal on points with Norway, which, led by top scorer Erling Haaland, won 2-0 (1-0) in Latvia. Both are directly behind Turkey (11 points) who beat 2-0 (0-0) over the goalless soccer dwarf Gibraltar.

Israel turns four opportunities into four goals

Austria was a bitter evening in Israel. German coach Franco Foda’s team lost 2:5 (1:3) and fell to fourth place in Group F. Leaders Denmark (15 points) scored their fifth victory in their fifth match and won 1-0 (0-0) over the Faroe Islands without a glance.

It is followed by Israel (10) now in second place, and Scotland (8) in third place after beating Moldova 1-0 (1-0). Just behind the Austrians. Manor Solomon (5th), Hoffenheim’s Monas Dabur (20th), Iran Zahavi (33/90) and Shaun Weizmann (58th) scored goals for Israel, who only had to shoot four times in the first four strikes. On the other hand, Austria counted 19 shots on goal at the end, and had many excellent chances, but they only succeeded thanks to Christoph Baumgartner of Hoffenheim (42) and Marko Arnautovic of the former Bremen (55).

In Group A, Serbia beat Luxembourg 4-1 (2-0) and now top the standings in front of the Portuguese (both 10) with equal points. Portugal did not play a game and won a test against World Cup hosts Qatar 3-1 (2-0) on Saturday. At the top of Group H, Russia and Croatia are still tied (both 10). Russia won 2-0 (1-0) in Cyprus, and Croatia won 1-0 (0-0) in Slovakia.