The second round of the 2022 World Cup European Qualifying Tournament, which opened earlier today (Saturday), continues at this time with four games. The focus is on the two games in House 7, in which the Dutch team tries to recover from the loss to Turkey in a home match against Latvia while the Turks meet Norway for a battle between two rivals who dream of qualifying for the World Cup. At home 8 Croatia is trying to recover from the loss to Slovenia at the expense of Cyprus, and at home 5 Belarus opens the campaign against Estonia.
House 7
Netherlands – Latvia 0: 1
The Orange team started the worst campaign possible, with a 4-2 loss in Istanbul to one of its direct rivals in the battle for first place at home, giving the only direct ticket to the World Cup (teams finishing second will advance to the playoffs, of which only 3 teams will reach Qatar). Now Frank de Boer’s players must score the first 3 points against one of the two weakest teams at home (along with Gibraltar) – any other result will be no less of a disaster for the Dutch and bring them closer to qualifying for the World Cup for the second time in a row, after missing the World Cup in Russia.
32 minutes, the Netherlands took the lead 0: 1: After coming up with quite a few situations, the Orange finally managed to find the net as well, when Davey Klassen found Stephen Brachhaus, who spun a great kick from 17 yards out to the top left corner of Roberts Ozoles, who was left helpless.
Norway – Turkey 2: 0
The two teams that hope to surprise, qualify for the World Cup from first place at home and leave the Dutch behind, meet for a head-to-head battle after victories in the first round. The Turks did it as stated against the Netherlands, the Norwegians defeated Gibraltar 0: 3 and for both 6 points from two games will be a wonderful achievement in the opening of the campaign. Unfortunately for the Norwegians, due to the corona restrictions in their country that require long isolation upon arrival in the country, they had to copy the game to Spain and it was held in Malaga, and the Turks will hope to take advantage of that to register a game win that is not exactly an away game for them.
Minute 4, Turkey took the lead 0: 1: Yusuf Yazichi found Ozan Topan in a pass from the left, who subdued Rona Yarstein with a sharp kick to the right corner from 12 meters.
28 minutes, Turkey took the lead 0: 2: Yusuf Yazichi scored another touchdown, as his level from the right found the head of Chaglar Soyuncho, who slammed home from 5 yards out to the left corner.
House 8
Croatia – Cyprus 0: 1
Unlike the Netherlands, the world runner-up received a very comfortable draw in the qualifying tournament when she was drawn in the same house with Slovakia, the weakest team in the second tier (and avoided teams at its level like Poland, Switzerland and Sweden). But like the Netherlands, it also launched the campaign in a shocking way – for them it came in the form of a 1-0 loss to Slovenia in the fourth tier. Now Luca Modric and his teammates must score three points against the team from the neighboring island, which opened the campaign with a home point against Slovakia.
40 minutes, Croatia took the lead 0: 1: Mario Prasalic took advantage of a serious mistake in the Cypriot defense and subdued the substitute goalkeeper, Neopitus Michael, who came in just one minute earlier, with a shot from 6 yards out.
Russia – Slovenia 1: 2
In the early game of the 8th house, the team of Stanistlav Churchev, who opened the campaign with a light 1: 3 over Malta, achieved another victory and established its position in first place at home. On the other hand, the Slovenians of Metej Kak failed to leverage the impressive 0-1 over Croatia in the opening round. Artem Dziuba scored in the 26th minute and in the 35th minute he completed a double, with Josip Ilicic only narrowing the result in the 36th minute.
In another game at home 5
Belarus – Estonia 1: 1
Lamb to Belarus: Vitaly Lisakovich (45, Pendel)
Lamb to Estonia: Henry Anier (31)