The 2026 World Cup qualifiers are in full swing as consideration turns to subsequent summer season’s event.
Spain bought their marketing campaign off to a profitable begin, beating Bulgaria 3-0 away from dwelling in a dominant efficiency from the European champions.
Nonetheless, it was a special story for a few of Europe’s different powerhouses.
Learn on to find how the evening unfolded throughout the continent.
Slovakia 2-0 Germany: Slovaks stun German giants
Slovakia shocked Germany with a well-known 2-0 victory in Bratislava to open their World Cup qualifying marketing campaign in sensational vogue.
The hosts took a deserved lead shortly earlier than half-time when David Hancko mixed brilliantly with David Strelec, slotting coolly previous Oliver Baumann to ship the house crowd into raptures.
It was not more than Slovakia merited after a formidable first-half show that additionally noticed Sauer denied by a wise save and Duda strike the publish.
Germany, disjointed and missing depth, created a handful of alternatives via Florian Wirtz and Maximilian Mittelstadt, however Martin Dubravka stood agency to protect Slovakia’s lead on the break.
Any hopes of a German revival have been crushed ten minutes into the second half. Strelec produced a second of magic, twisting previous Antonio Rudiger on the sting of the field earlier than curling a shocking left-footed strike into the far nook. The stadium erupted as Slovakia doubled their benefit.
Julian Nagelsmann’s aspect pushed late on, with Nadiem Amiri lacking a golden likelihood from shut vary, however Slovakia remained agency to file a well-known evening
Netherlands 1-1 Poland: Dutch held by Polish opponents
The Netherlands noticed their good begin to World Cup qualifying halted after being held to a 1-1 draw by Poland in Rotterdam.
Ronald Koeman’s aspect dominated the competition, having fun with over 74% possession and carving out the higher probabilities, however they have been punished late on by a second of brilliance from Matty Money.
The hosts started brightly and have been unlucky to not rating early when Tijjani Reijnders struck the publish, whereas Cody Gakpo and Denzel Dumfries each pressured saves from Lukasz Skorupski. Their strain informed within the twenty eighth minute when Dumfries rose unmarked on the far publish to move in Memphis Depay’s nook, giving the Oranje a deserved lead.
Poland created little earlier than half-time, with Piotr Zielinski and Sebastian Szymanski each taking pictures large from distance, however they stayed within the recreation and grew into the second half. The Dutch continued to press, with Xavi Simons and Depay going shut, but their lack of ability to kill off the sport proved expensive.
Ten minutes from time, Money pounced on a free ball 25 yards out and unleashed a thunderous strike into the highest nook, gorgeous the De Kuip crowd and incomes Poland a precious level.
The Netherlands stay prime of Group A, although their profitable run is over.
European leads to full
Luxembourg 1-3
Slovakia 2-0 Germany
Georgia 2-3 Turkey
Bulgaria 0-3 Spain
Lithuania 1-1 Malta
Netherlands 1-1 Poland
Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales
Liectenstein 0-6 Belgium
