Tuesday night saw the final matches of the European international window played, and it proved to be a good night for Kieran Tierney’s Scotland who have taken a huge step towards qualifying for Euro 2024.
They beat Georgia 2-0 at Hampden Park to make it four wins out of four so far, as they aim to qualify for a second consecutive Euros by reaching the finals in Germany next summer.
Kieran played 79 minutes of the game, which had to be paused for over an hour and a half after torrential rain made the pitch unplayable. Goals either side of the delay from Callum McGregor and Scott McTominay kept Steve Clarke’s team’s 100 per cent record going, and moved them eight points ahead of their second-placed opponents in the group at the halfway stage.
Also in Group A, Martin Odegaard’s Norway picked up their first victory of the group stage by beating Cyprus 3-1. Erling Haaland struck twice - the second of which was assisted by our skipper with a neat through ball that sliced through the away defence. That was Martin’s 51st cap for his country, having reached the half-century last weekend against the Scots.
After the high of beating Germany in a friendly last week, Jakub Kiwior’s Poland returned to earth with a bump after losing 3-2 to Moldova, having been two goals ahead. Jakub played all 90 minutes of the game, but the defeat leaves the Poles fourth in the group after their first three matches.
Karl Hein won his 22nd cap but was beaten three times as Estonia lost 3-0 to Belgium, with Romelu Lukaku netting twice in Tallinn, leaving the hosts with just a solitary point from their first three games and already six behind the play-off places.
Another side with an uphill battle to qualify are Iceland, for whom Alex Runarsson came so close to a clean sheet against Portugal before Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 200th international appearance with an 89th-minute winner to leave Iceland, who had been reduced to 10 men with 10 minutes to play, seven points adrift of the top two.
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