Quite a night – eight games, 24 goals (if you include the earlier Kazakhstan-Czech Republic match today’s eight Euro 2016 qualifiers featured 30 goals at 3.75 goals apiece, which I guess is what happens when you let Azerbaijan play Croatia and Kazakhstan play the Czech Republic). Iceland’s victory over Holland is clearly the stand-out result of the evening, and probably of their history. The Dutch would be fairly close to elimination from most qualifying competitions, but if you’re going to spend a few games playing like absolute wretches this is the qualifying competition in which to do it. These are dark, dark days for Guus Hiddink, but if he’s chased out of his homeland he’ll always have friends in South Korea.
So, that’s all from me. Thanks for your time and your emails. Bye!
All the final scores:
Andorra 1-4 Israel
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-1 Belgium
Croatia 6-0 Azerbaijan
Iceland 2-0 Holland
Latvia 1-1 Turkey
Malta 0-1 Italy
Norway 2-1 Bulgaria
Wales 2-1 Cyprus
Updated
GOAL! Andorra 1-4 Israel (Hemed, 90 mins)
Yet another penalty, scored by Tomer Hemed, the final kick of the game. “Another dodgy pen,” admits our Israeli football correspondent Anton Marks.
Final score: Wales 2-1 Cyprus
An enormous roar greets the final whistle in Cyprus, and Gareth Bale executes a sterling double downwards fist-pump in celebration, before calling a post-match huddle. This is all going rather well for them.
“Latvian player just got a second yellow for catching the ball in the area,” writes Guy Fraser. “But no penalty was given. Is this normal or have I massively misjudged the Turkish commentary in my hotel?” That does not sound normal.
Final score: Latvia 1-1 Turkey
The referee blows for full time and is immediately surrounded by irate Turks, who thought they should have had a little bit longer to test Latvia’s 10 men. But they don’t.
Latvia are down to 10 men against Turkey, Gints Freimanis having earned a second yellow, but they’re into the fifth of four minutes of stoppage time now.
@Simon_Burnton if ROI beat germany tomorrow (big if), Netherlands could end up with Germans, Spain, Portugal in playoff.
— Richard Morris (@richardmorrisuk) October 13, 2014
It’s surely a little early to know, or even guess, where any team might finish in these qualifiers. But we can dream, can’t we?
The Wales game is also in stoppage time, though only just, and there will be at least four minutes of it.
Updated
Final score: Iceland 2-0 Holland
Incredible scenes! Holland were disastrously poor in the first half tonight, and Iceland defended splendidly in the second. A brilliant result.
Arjen Robben cuts onto his left foot and shoots, as Arjen Robben does, but it isn’t on target or even close to it, and there are 20 seconds left for Holland to win the ball back and score twice.
The game in Iceland kicked off a few minutes before all the others, and it is now into stoppage time, of which there will be at least two minutes.
Wales are currently taking an inordinate amount of time over a corner, which follows the ludicrous amount of time they took over a free-kick a few seconds earlier.
Cyprus haven’t had many chances against 10-man Wales in Cardiff, but they just sent a header only just high.
“Italy are also down to 10 men against Malta now, Bonucci on the receiving end of another harsh red card,” writes Giovanni Pisoni. “Could we be in for one of the most embarrassing results in the history of Italy in qualifiers? We’ve been absolutely woeful tonight, painful to watch.” It’s still 1-0 in Ta’Qali, though Italy will have to get through the final 27 minutes with 10 men.
Updated
A description of that third Damari goal from Anton Marks. “Nice interplay on the edge of the box, Damari received with his back to goal and spun to smack the ball home. Is a ball counted as extra hand luggage on the flight home?” It can certainly take up a lot of space in a suitcase, unless you find a way to stuff it with socks.
GOAL! Andorra 1-3 Israel (Damari, 82 mins)
A couple of minutes after he missed an absolute sitter, Omer Damari has completed his hat-trick in Andorra, and Israel have three points surely in the bag now.
Now Emil Hallfredsson cuts in from the right and sends a left-footed shot screaming (well) over the bar. Iceland are looking the most likely scorers, with seven minutes (plus stoppages) to play.
Holland are basically at the stage where every attack ends with an optimistic appeal for a penalty.
Ooooh! Iceland break, and are three-against-two against a backtracking Dutch rearguard, but Sigurdsson fluffs his pass!
Meanwhile, Bruno Martins Indi has just headed a decent chance just over from six yards or so. Holland are still two goals down in Iceland, with 13 minutes to play.
Hedgehog on the pitch!
OK, this isn’t in one of tonight’s internationals. Indeed, it’s about as far from it as you can get, but some stories just need to be told. This is happening right now in tonight’s Hitchin v Arlesey Red Insure Cup tie.
Game halted. Hedgehog on the pitch. pic.twitter.com/cRASFyUKch
— Comet_Sport (@Comet_Sport) October 13, 2014
The linesman tried to pick it up and jumped back after hurting his hand. Hilarious.
— Comet_Sport (@Comet_Sport) October 13, 2014
GOAL! Norway 2-1 Bulgaria (Nielsen, 72 mins)
Norway are back in the lead in Oslo. And that concludes this extremely factual update.
Iceland’s Birkir Bjarnason just failed to finish off a lovely flowing move, for what would surely have been a killer third goal against Holland. The Dutch will still qualify, almost certainly – it’s pretty hard not to, these days – but they might be forced into an embarrassing play-off.
Odegaard, incidentally, is 15 years and 300 days old. He was born in December 1998. I’d already started working for The Guardian by then. Cripes, it’s all I can do to stop myself weeping and beating my head against my desk.
Updated
Apparently Belgium’s goal hasn’t gone down particularly well in Zenica.
@simon_burnton Begovic mistake has shocked the crowd to near absolute silence
— Doug Singer (@thebrotherdoug) October 13, 2014
History!
So Martin Odegaard is officially the youngest player in European Championship history, having apparently come on for Norway.
@Simon_Burnton Ødegaard is coming on, as the youngest player in a qualifier. Tore André Flo went on camera, said Vitesse might be interested
— NRK Sport (@NRK_Sport) October 13, 2014
GOAL! Croatia 6-0 Azerbaijan (Sadigov, 61og)
I’m not sure Croatia goals merit big black text any more. They’re just too commonplace. Anyway, that’s an excellent volleyed finish into his own net by Sadigov.
Updated
GOAL! Croatia 5-0 Azerbaijan (Modric, 56 mins)
Another penalty, the catchily-named Allahverdiyev having been punished for a foul on Srna.
GOAL! Latvia 1-1 Turkey (Sabala, 54 mins)
You wait 47 minutes for a goal and then two come along at once. Nearly. That’s a confident penalty from Sabala, after Kurakins took out Arda Turan.
GOAL! Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-1 Belgium (Nainggolan, 51 mins)
I haven’t seen this, but I have seen rumours that Asmir Begovic totally fluffed what should have been an easy enough save from Radja Nainggolan.
Red card! Wales go down to 10 men!
In all the excitement I almost (entirely) missed Andy King’s red card. Wales, having at one stage looked set to rack up a cricket score against Cyprus, are now clinging on to their one-goal advantage.
King has been sent off for Wales for his challenge on Makridis. 47' #WALvCYP
— FA Wales (@FAWales) October 13, 2014
Updated
Chance for Van Persie! Which he sends rocketing 15 yards high from the edge of the area!
Factual update: Kisa actually came on five minutes before half-time.
GOAL! Latvia 0-1 Turkey (Bilal Kisa, 47 mins)
Blam! Whammo! Whooosh! That’s the deadlock emphatically broken, and Turkey deservedly taking the lead! And Kisa had, I think, only come off the bench at half-time. That’s a super strike, though, from about 25 yards, screaming over the keeper and just under the bar.
… and exhale. And draw breath again. The players are gradually re-emerging for their second halves, and Holland are going to bring on Huntelaar, in place of Sneijder, to give Van Persie a little extra support as they attempt to fight back from a 2-0 half-time deficit in sub-zero Reykjavik. Iceland have brought on Birkir Saevarsson, but I’m not entirely sure who they have taken off.
Half time!
OK, deep breath now. It’s been an absolutely goal-laden opening half, which has brought 16 goals at an average of two per game so far.
Updated
GOAL! Norway 1-1 Bulgaria (Bodurov, 43 mins)
A classic centre-half-header-from-a-corner, that.
GOAL! And ANOTHER GOAL! Croatia 4-0 Azerbaijan (Perisic 45 mins & Brozovic 45 mins)
Ivan Perisic scores with a header from Ivan Rakitic’s free-kick, and then Marcelo Brozovic scores a few moments later after someone else’s shot hit him in the stomach and fell nicely – unlike the Azeri keeper, who didn’t dive at all.
GOAL! Andorra 1-2 Israel (Damari, 41 mins)
Israel are back in front in Andorra, and don’t need a dodgy penalty to do it! Some dodgy defending certainly helped, though, as Tal ben Haim (not that one – there’s another) skipped down the right and slid across a low, slow cross that only Damari attacked.
A few moments before that goal, a Gareth Bale free-kick flicked off the wall and clattered into the bar as Wales attempt to reassert their superiority over Cyprus.
GOAL! Iceland 2-0 Holland (Sigurdsson, 42 mins)
Unbelievable stuff! Iceland’s corner falls to Sigthorsson, whose effort hits a defender and falls back to him, but his second effort hits a defender and falls to Sigurdsson, who sends it thundering into the roof of the net!
“Very dodgy pen for Andorra,” grumbles a possibly biased Anton Marks from Israel. “He went down like a sack of spuds with hardly a touch.”
GOAL! Wales 2-1 Cyprus (Vincent Laban, 36 mins)
Laban takes the free-kick from the right and curls it into the mixer. Wayne Hennessey comes out into a thicket of heads and bodies, attempts to punch clear, fluffs it hopelessly and the ball flicks off the top of his fist and into the far corner!
Turkey miss another good chance, and remain 0-0 against Latvia. And Cotterill, Wales’s goalscoring substitute, has been booked for fouling, um, someone.
“There are four Williamses in the Welsh Team – Ashley, George, Owain Fon and Jonathan,” writes Joseph Shinners. “I can’t be bothered with the research but does anyone know of that sort of frequency of name occurring in a competitive International before? Or even a top flight league game?”
I don’t know, but I can copy and paste this article from 2009. Can anyone do better?
A football team from southern Italy is hoping for entry into the Guinness World Records because all their players have the same surname, according to a media report.
The entire squad of Team De Feo, an amateur side from the town of Serino, have “De Feo” as their surname -- as does the coach, doctor and club secretary and sponsors, British newspaper The Independent reported.
The club’s ground even sits on Via Raffaele De Feo. A tourism Web site for Serino shows that the mayor’s name is Gaetano De Feo.
According to The Independent, the team was established by former Serie A player, Maurizio De Feo, who says he founded the team in a bid for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records. The name De Feo is very common in the region.
A Guinness World Records spokesman told CNN there did not appear to be any active categories that the team’s identical surnames would fit in to – but that new ideas were always welcomed.
GOAL! Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 Belgium (Dzeko, 28 mins)
I can’t tell you much about this, except that Edin Dzeko scored it, Miralem Pjanic created it, and it’s turning into a terrible night for Euro 2000 hosts everywhere.
Red card! Malta down to 10 men!
Former Coventry City ace Michael Mifsud is the miscreant, getting his marching orders for a foul on Florenzi, and a potentially awkward evening for Italy is looking significantly simpler now.
GOAL! Malta 0-1 Italy (Pellè, 24 mins)
The Southampton ace carries his good form into the international arena, sfruttating a respinta from the Maltese defence to score his first international goal, according to this tweet which I only partially understand.
#MaltaItalia, 23': GOOOOOOOOOOOLL! 0-1! #Pellè sfrutta una respinta della difesa maltese e segna il suo primo gol in #Nazionale! #MALITA
— Nazionale Italiana (@Vivo_Azzurro) October 13, 2014
GOAL! Wales 2-0 Cyprus (Robson-Kanu, 23 mins)
A super flick from Bale releases Robson-Kanu, who draws the keeper and flicks the ball through his legs. This looks a done deal.
Updated
Turkey, meanwhile, have just missed an absolute sitter in Latvia, Umut Bulut shotting into the goalkeeper’s legs when clean through.
“Big stuff happening in Bosnia!” writes JR in Illinois. “In the fourth minute one of the assistant referees went to signal a throw in and his flag broke! The fabric part went flying off and he was just left with the stick part. It took them one full minute to repair it.” Magic. Everyone loves a good equipment failure.
GOAL! Andorra 1-1 Israel (Lima 15 mins)
Israel have let Andorra equalise, which is a little embarrassing. It was a penalty, I can exclusively reveal.
Gooooool d'Andorra!! Gool d'Ildefons Lima de penal min. 15 / AND (1-1) Israel @EuroQualifiers #andisr
— FederacióAndFutbol (@Fedandfut) October 13, 2014
Updated
GOAL! Norway 1-0 Bulgaria (Elyounoussi, 13 mins)
There is some frantic goalscoring going on across Europe tonight. Elyounoussi’s in fine goalscoring form at present – “I am like a ketchup bottle,” he said the other day. “You keep hitting it and at first nothing comes, but then it all comes at once.”
1-0 til Norge!! Tarik Elyounoussi runder keeper og sender Norge i ledelsen! #norbul #fotballgutta
— NorgesFotballforbund (@NFF_info) October 13, 2014
GOAL! Wales 1-0 Cyprus (Cotterill, 13 mins)
Wales have been piling on the pressure against Cyprus, and have duly taken the lead with a bit of a freak, Cotterrill – who came on for Church after that early injury – curling a right-footed left-foot cross that everyone misses and nestles in the far corner of the net.
Updated
GOAL! Croatia 1-0 Azerbaijan (Kramaric, 11 mins)
Darijo Srna’s cross is converted by Andrej Kramaric!
Updated
GOAL! Andorra 0-1 Israel (Damari, 3 mins)
That wasn’t even the first goal of the evening – Omer Damari put Israel ahead in Andorra in the third minute.
Updated
GOAL! Iceland 1-0 Holland (Sigurdsson, 10 mins)
Jesper Cillessen goes the right way, but after the World Cup we all know about his failings at penalties, and he gets nowhere near Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty, waiting until the kick is taken before moving.
Penalty to Iceland!
Birkir Bjarnason has had his ankles clipped by Van der Wiel, right in the corner of the penalty area, and Iceland have a penalty!
Bale gets up and sends a viciously-dipping free-kick heading goalwards, but it’s far too central and Tasos Kissas collects.
That challenge on Bale from Nikolaou was a disgrace. Clear how Cyprus intend to deal with him.
— Stuart James (@StuartJamesGNM) October 13, 2014
“Iceland? Holland? Latvia? Bosnia-Belgium is where it’s at, Simon,” writes Tom Le Bacq. “Lukaku and Origi are both in the starting XI: what’s not to like?” They’re the logical third choice, I think, but I’m attracted by Turkey’s car-crash potential.
Gareth Bale gets the ball for the first time, and Marios Nikolaou attempts to take his foot off at the ankle, with the ball miles away. He’s in the book.
Updated
Oooh! Iceland are on the front foot in the opening moments, but at the end of a fine move Kolbeinn Sigthorsson miscontrols what could have been an excellent through-ball.
And now everyone’s at it. With less than a minute on the clock, though, Simon Church gets nudged in the back, goes down and writhes around clutching his left shoulder. There didn’t seem to be much contact, but there certainly seems to be lots of pain.
Peeeeeeeep!
They’re under way in Iceland! Though not anywhere else, so far as I can tell.
I’m not usually one for inane schoolboy humour but, well, they said slag.
Volg het LIVE twitterverslag van IJsland - Nederland nu via @onsoranje! pic.twitter.com/SwX8dXRmqe
— KNVB (@KNVB) October 13, 2014
The players are out in Iceland, and already mid-anthem, but after an extended delay they’re only just emerging in Cardiff, and are still hanging around in the tunnel over in Latvia.
Players are strolling out of tunnels across Europe. Gird your loins, this is happening.
Other than Wales, I’m thinking that Iceland v Holland and Latvia v Turkey are the best-looking matches this evening, so I’ll be monitoring those. If you’re watching one of the others – or even one of those, as I will at any given moment be ignoring at least one of them – do let me know if anything exciting/interesting/very vaguely amusing happens.
Chris Coleman speaks!
We welcome the pressure. These are the games you want to be involved in. I think it means you’re doing something right if you’re involved in games with so much riding on it. Magnificent performance Friday night. It’s another game tonight. We’re ready. We’re looking forward to it.
We knew about Bosnia. We knew what to expect from them. So we worked on matching up what their strengths were and we did that. Tonight, Cyprus can go two ways, they’re either quite open in their approach, they have been at home, or away from home they’re very defensive and try to counter-attack. We’re hoping to try to match both.
Some other teams, including the full line-ups from Cardiff:
Andorra: Pol, Maneiro Ton, Lima, Garcia, Rubio, Vieira, Vales, Lorenzo, Peppe, Martinez Alejo, Riera. Subs: Josep Gomez, Sonejee, Pujol Pons, San Nicolas, Ayala Diaz, Toscano, Garcia Renom.
Israel: Martziano, Meshumar, Tal Ben Haim, Tibi, Twatha, Biton, Vermouth, Natcho, Zahavi, Tal Ben Haim, Damari. Subs: Harush, Gershon, Hemed, Rafaelov, Barda, Shechter, Yeini, Dabbur, Buzaglo, Sahar, Ben Haroush, Haimov.
Referee: Cristian Balaj (Romania)
Croatia: Subasic, Srna, Corluka, Vida, Pranjic, Brozovic, Rakitic, Modric, Kovacic, Kramaric, Mandzukic. Subs: Vargic, Tomecak, Perisic, Schildenfeld, Halilovic, Antolic, Cop, Strinic, Leskovic, Olic, Milic, Kalinic.
Azerbaijan: Agayev, Medvedev, Sadygov, Badavi Huseynov, Allahverdiev, Abdullayev, Garayev, Ramaldanov, Nazarov, Amirguliev, Aliyev. Subs: Balayev, Yunuszade, Qirtimov, Kurbanov, Dadasov, Ramazanov, Javid Huseynov, Nadirov, Budak, Tashkin, Guliyev, Aghayev.
Malta: Hogg, Zach Muscat, Agius, Camilleri, Mintoff, Rowen Muscat, Failla, Briffa, Paul Fenech, Mifsud, Schembri. Subs: Haber, Bezzina, Grioli, Baldacchino, Scicluna, Ryan Fenech, Kristensen, Cohen, Pisani, Terence Vella, Farrugia, Nicholas Vella.
Italy: Buffon, Darmian, Bonucci, Chiellini, Candreva, Verratti, Pasqual, Florenzi, Marchisio, Immobile, Pelle. Subs: Sirigu, De Sciglio, Ogbonna, Poli, Aquilani, Parolo, Pirlo, Zaza, Giovinco, Destro, Perin.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania).
Norway: Haskjold, Elabdellaoui, Linnes, Forren, Nordtveit, Tettey, Skjelbred, Daehli, Johansen, King, Elyounoussi. Subs: Jarstein, Danielsen, Gabrielsen, Hagen, Odegaard, Gulbrandsen, Samuelsen, Flo, Nielsen, Singh, Grytebust.
Bulgaria: Mihailov, Apostol Popov, Bodurov, Veselin Minev, Manolev, Georgi Milanov, Tonev, Dyakov, Iliev, Ivelin Popov, Ventsislav Hristov. Subs: Stoyanov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Zanev, Iordan Minev, Mihail Aleksandrov, Galabinov, Zlatinski, Ilia Milanov, Gadzhev, Nedelev, Yordan Hristov, Mitrev.
Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal).
Wales: Hennessey, Gunter, Ashley Williams, Chester, Neil Taylor, George Williams, King, Bale, Ledley, Robson-Kanu, Church. Subs: Owain Fon Williams, Davies, Dave Edwards, Cotterill, Gabbidon, Jonathan Williams, Lawrence, Ricketts, Gwion Edwards, Jake Taylor, John, Letheren.
Cyprus: Kissas, Kyriakou, Merkis, Junior, Antoniades, Efrem, Nicolaou, Laban, Sotiriou, Makridis, Christofi. Subs: Georgallides, Aresti, Sielis, Angeli, Papathanasiou, Charalambidis, Alexandrou, Kolokoudias, Artymatas, Stylianou, Makris, Loizou.
Referee: Manuel Grafe (Germany).
“I wonder what Malta’s manager has in mind when he says his team ‘are getting there’?” wonders Lou Roper. “Back atop of Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea (there may be cause for optimism here since their super-striker-manager-goalkeeper-groundsman Kim Jong-un seems to have gone missing), Surinam, Chad, Aruba, and New Caledonia in the admittedly bizarre Fifa rankings? Or are they ready to mix it with European powerhouse FYR Macedonia having seemingly put Lichtenstein in the shade?” The possibilities are limitless. Well, nearly limitless.
And here are the Iceland v Holland teams. Huntelaar remains on the bench, despite much clamour for him to replace Van Persie in the starting XI.
Iceland: Halldorsson, Theodor Elmar Bjarnason, Arnason, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Ari Freyr Skulason, Birkir Bjarnason, Gunnarsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Hallfredsson, Bodvarsson, Sigthorsson. Subs: Gunnleifsson, Saevarsson, Jonasson, Ottesen, Valdimarsson, Finnbogason, Danielsson, Olafur Ingi Skulason, Gislason, Kjartansson, Jonsson.
Holland: Cillessen, van der Wiel, de Vrij, Martins Indi, Blind, Afellay, de Jong, Sneijder, Robben, van Persie, Lens. Subs: Vermeer, Verhaegh, Bruma, Veltman, van Dijk, Clasie, Narsingh, Fer, Huntelaar, Klaassen, Promes, Zoet.
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo
Scotland also have a representative in action tonight, in the shape of whistle-blower Bobby Madden, who takes charge of a really quite important match, certainly for Turkey:
Latvia: Kolinko, Gabovs, Dubra, Gorkss, Kurakins, Ikaunieks, Zjuzins, Fertovs, Aleksejs Visnakovs, Sabala, Eduards Visnakovs. Subs: Steinbors, Morozs, Bulvitis, Kovalovs, Zigajevs, Rugins, Rakels, Jagodinskis, Freimanis, Timofejevs.
Turkey: Babacan, Gonul, Topal, Kaya, Erkin, Tufan, Ozyakup, Turan, Sahan, Tore, Bulut. Subs: Zengin, Koybasi, Kurt, Camdal, Kisa, Altintop, Inan, Sari, Vural, Adin, Gulum, Gunok.
Referee: Bobby Madden.
Mental last few minutes alert: the match in Astana, 3-0 with 10 minutes to play, ended 4-2 to the Czech Republic (though Kazakhstan never really looked like getting much from the game, making the score 3-1 and 4-2).
Some team news from Wales, courtesy of the Press Association:
Fulham teenager George Williams was handed his first Wales start as manager Chris Coleman made two changes for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Cyprus at the Cardiff City Stadium on Monday night.
Reading’s Hal Robson-Kanu also came in following Friday’s goalless draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the injured Jonathan Williams missing out and Ben Davies dropping to the bench, but star man Gareth Bale shrugged off a slight back injury to win his 47th cap.
Cyprus made four changes from the side which lost 2-1 at home to Israel on Friday, with goalkeeper Tasos Kissas, full-back Charis Kyriakou, midfielder Marios Nikolaou and wideman Pieros Sotiriou all drafted in.
Hello world!
So we’ve got eight – eight! – Euro 2016 qualifiers to think about this evening. And they are:
Andorra v Israel
Andorra seek to end run of 42 successive qualifying defeats against Israel side that got their qualifying campaign under way in promising style with a 2-1 win over Cyprus. Wales will remember without great fondness Andorra’s black seed-strewn artificial pitch, from which they only just emerged with a victory last month. These are golden days for fans of matches between teams whose names both start with vowels, with this following Estonia v England in short order. Enjoy it while you can, though: the next competitive match between European vowel-starters is Albania v Armenia on 29 March, five-and-a-half long months away.
Odds: Andorra 28/1, Israel 1/10, Draw 7/1
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Belgium
One point from two qualifiers so far is not considered good enough in Bosnia – and to be fair losing 2-1 to Cyprus isn’t very clever – so Safet Susic will be squirming in his seat as the group favourites trundle into town. Belgium have lost every game they’ve ever played in Zenica (two). “Taking three points in Zenica would be good but a point certainly would not be bad,” upsums Marc Wilmots.
Odds: B-H 5/2, Belgium 23/20, Draw 11/5
Croatia v Azerbaijan
Fact: Croatia and Azerbaijan have just come to some kind of agreement concerning future business association – read (a little bit) more here – so politically a draw might be convenient, if wildly unpopular with the home support. They’ve never played each other at football before.
Odds: Croatia 1/7, Azerbaijan 6/1, Draw 14/1
Iceland v Holland
Having lost their first qualifier to the Czech Republic, and come dangerously close to fluffing up the second at home to Kazakhstan before scoring a couple of late goals after their opponents had a man sent off, Holland are looking wobbly. Iceland have a 100% record from their two games so far, against Turkey and Latvia (both won 3-0), and it would be very exciting for everyone who isn’t Dutch if they continued that run tonight. Their head-to-head record though isn’t very encouraging, reading as it does played 10, drawn one, lost nine.
Odds: Iceland 17/4, Holland 6/10, Draw 3/1
Latvia v Turkey
Two games, no points and things are looking grim for Turkey. According to rumour Fatih Terim will resign if they lose again tonight. “We’re bottom of the group. We have to recover quickly and get some points,” he says. “We have eight games to play. We cannot abandon hope.” According to the Turkish newspaper Sabah, his side’s latest failure, against the Czech Republic on Friday, was followed by a Terim fusilade in the dressing-room, in which he called the goals they conceded “funny and stupid” and called on each player to “defend like a man”. “We told Umut Bulut to defend from the front, but all he did was watch them score,” he apparently fumed. Latvia’s manager is Marian Pahars, former babyfaced Southampton striker, which really makes me feel old. “We just lack class and technique and that’s what we have to work on,” he says, unpromisingly, of his charges.
Odds: Latvia 9/2, Turkey 8/13, Draw 13/5
Malta v Italy
Southampton’s Graziano Pellè could get a first international start with Antonio Conte promising changes for Italy. “We can expect a tough game against Malta, as they played open and attacking football against Norway, beaten only on the counter-attack,” said Conte, which was nice of him – Malta were resoundingly beaten 3-0 at home. “My boys are improving all the time and are getting there,” says the Malta coach Pietro Ghedin, who previously was part of Italy’s coaching staff under Cesare Maldini, Dino Zoff and Giovanni Trapattoni. “I am very confident.” The teams last played only last year, when Malta missed a penalty and hit the bar with the scores at 1-0, and went on to lose 2-0.
Odds: Malta 33/1, Italy 1/33, Draw 11/1
Norway v Bulgaria
Frankly the internet doesn’t seem to have much to say about this one, but we’re still all pretty excited about Martin Odegaard, the 15-year-old Stromgodset winger, who was on the bench for the 3-0 win in Malta on Friday and could become the tournament’s youngest ever player this evening. “Our team is still very young,” says Per-Mathias Hogmo, the Norway coach. “Our average age is just over 23. We’ve got to build relationships, and they develop game by game. It’s all about getting individual players to function collectively.” I must say it’s pretty cunning to call up an infant and then harp on about his squad’s average age.
Odds: Norway: 23/20, Bulgaria 13/5, Draw 2/1
Wales v Cyprus
Some chap called Bale says he’s going to play, with Wales deprived of 11 players through injury. “It’s bare bones but we’ve got enough to be positive,” sniffed Aaron Ramsey. As for Cyprus, their coach Pambos Christodoulou sounds not entirely optimistic. “We will face a strong and experienced team,” he says. “For us, there are no easy games, we see all of them as serious. We know who we are and we aim to build a team for the future.”
Odds: Wales 1/2, Cyprus 13/2, Draw 3/1
Already today Oman have slipped to a 0-3 defeat against Uruguay – Luis Suárez started, and bagged a brace – at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (they call it Boshar for short, I’m told (by Wikipedia)). And the Czech Republic are 3-0 up in Kazakhstan, with around 10 minutes to go, in a match remarkable for the fact that just three, or 27%, of Kazakhstan’s starters have names that end in -ov or -ev, but eight, or 67%, of their substitutes do. Is there some kind of anti-ov/ev discrimination at work in the selection process here? We want answers!
All odds from gowager.co.uk
