Euro qualifying: Saturday full of losses for the favourites. Italians again downed by Macedonians

The Swiss were a surprising loss, the English and Italians both rubbish. Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifying programme offered plenty of success for the underdogs, but what were the results from the seven matches?

Current or former Fortuna Liga players ran around the pitches in Saturday’s Euro qualifying matches as well. Nicolae Stanciu started in the Romanian jersey, Vasij Sinyavski from Slovácko appeared in the colours of Estonia.

In Group C, the situation got more complicated. England lost for the first time when they drew 1-1 with Ukraine. Macedonia’s match against Italy ended with the same result, with the home underdog equalising only at the very end.

England lead the table with 13 points, while the Ukrainians are on seven points with a game to spare. The third-placed Italians even have two games in hand compared to Albion, while having only four points. They need to beat the Ukrainians at home on Tuesday.

Group F has a new leader as Belgium won 1-0 in Azerbaijan after a great conquest thanks to Yannick Carrasco. Sweden had a much stronger start in Estonia, with five different scorers driving the 5: 0 triumph.

Belgium is now on ten points after four complete rounds, one score ahead of Austria. The third-placed Swedes are four points behind the promotion places and must beat the Austrians at home on Tuesday. Neither Azerbaijan nor Estonia will advance.

Three teams are also in contention for two places in Group I. The Swiss scored in Kosovo and only drew 2-2. Romania drew 1-1 at home with Israel and Belarus played goalless at Andorra.

The Swiss are first with 11 points after five rounds. The Romanians are two points behind and the Israelis are one point behind. If Stanciu and co. want to take promotion into their own hands, they need to beat Kosovo at home on Tuesday.

Source: UEFA