It’s been a while since we had an update from Europe. Of our three previous European groups, two have seen shocks that have resulted in France and Italy both ending up in the play-offs. This is how European qualification looks so far:
The fate of France and Italy - and even Ukraine - means that it’s particularly important for sides to try and qualify automatically, as the play-offs are going to be a devilish place to try and get through.
Anyway, today we are focusing on Group D, which features top seeds England, representing THE BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD (trademark, Sky Sports). With no squad value limit, this is a far superior side to the England which included three Wigan players in their 2017 Draft World Cup squad. That side got to the last 16, before narrowly losing out to Portugal.
Interestingly, England had only just got to the knockout stages after losing their final group game... against Romania. So there’s hope for the Romanians that they can challenge the group favourites here. This is a nasty group, all things told, because Czechia and Denmark are handy sides who will both want to prove doubters wrong after particularly poor 2017 campaigns. Armenia were part of the 2017 Caucasus side which performed reasonably well, whilst Gibraltar might well be in for a torrid time.
England started with a potential banana skin, away to Armenia. However, getting four goals in the opening 14 minutes is bound to settle some nerves, and England eventually came through 6-0 winners. Denmark also started with an easy win, beating Gibraltar 4-0. It was much more even in the clash between Romania and Czechia, with the only goal coming from Romania’s Denis Alibec.
Romania may have been buoyed by this as they travelled to Wembley, looking to enact a repeat of their 2017 win over England. However, once again England started strongly, getting 3-0 up within 14 minutes. England didn’t relent, and eventually won 8-2, with hat-tricks for Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard. Denmark travelled to Czechia and largely outplayed the hosts, but were pegged back twice and could only draw 2-2. Meanwhile, Gibraltar caused a stir by getting on the board with a comfortable 2-0 win over Armenia.
Based on results so far, Denmark posed England’s biggest threat, so would England struggle with a trip to Copenhagen (FYI: one of my favourite cities in the world)? Nope, they won 5-0, with a hat-trick for Alexis Sanchez. Gibraltar gave Czechia a difficult time, but David Lafata’s towering header was just enough to secure a 1-0 win for Czechia. Meanwhile, Armenia’s poor start continued with a 3-0 loss to Romania.
Anyway, today we are focusing on Group D, which features top seeds England, representing THE BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD (trademark, Sky Sports). With no squad value limit, this is a far superior side to the England which included three Wigan players in their 2017 Draft World Cup squad. That side got to the last 16, before narrowly losing out to Portugal.
Interestingly, England had only just got to the knockout stages after losing their final group game... against Romania. So there’s hope for the Romanians that they can challenge the group favourites here. This is a nasty group, all things told, because Czechia and Denmark are handy sides who will both want to prove doubters wrong after particularly poor 2017 campaigns. Armenia were part of the 2017 Caucasus side which performed reasonably well, whilst Gibraltar might well be in for a torrid time.
England started with a potential banana skin, away to Armenia. However, getting four goals in the opening 14 minutes is bound to settle some nerves, and England eventually came through 6-0 winners. Denmark also started with an easy win, beating Gibraltar 4-0. It was much more even in the clash between Romania and Czechia, with the only goal coming from Romania’s Denis Alibec.
Romania may have been buoyed by this as they travelled to Wembley, looking to enact a repeat of their 2017 win over England. However, once again England started strongly, getting 3-0 up within 14 minutes. England didn’t relent, and eventually won 8-2, with hat-tricks for Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard. Denmark travelled to Czechia and largely outplayed the hosts, but were pegged back twice and could only draw 2-2. Meanwhile, Gibraltar caused a stir by getting on the board with a comfortable 2-0 win over Armenia.
Based on results so far, Denmark posed England’s biggest threat, so would England struggle with a trip to Copenhagen (FYI: one of my favourite cities in the world)? Nope, they won 5-0, with a hat-trick for Alexis Sanchez. Gibraltar gave Czechia a difficult time, but David Lafata’s towering header was just enough to secure a 1-0 win for Czechia. Meanwhile, Armenia’s poor start continued with a 3-0 loss to Romania.
Gibraltar continued to show that they were no pushovers, as Enrique Carreno’s penalty gave them the lead against Romania. The Romanians took over 40 minutes to level, and couldn’t find a winner as Gibraltar were delighted to claim a 1-1 draw. Federico Santander was in fine form, hitting all three goals for Denmark as they beat Armenia 3-0. At Wembley England faced Czechia, and once again took an early lead, two Aguero strikes putting them 2-0 up within ten minutes. However, Czechia pulled to within one goal through Danny. This happened twice more – England would go 2 up, and Czechia will pull one back. Eventually, Aguero’s hat-trick goal put England 5-3 up and Czechia ran out of time to come back.
With England currently looking unstoppable, the matches between the group’s next-best were crucial, such as Denmark’s home tie against Romania. Once again it was a tight affair, and the only goal went to the hosts, Benjamin Verbic heading home from approximately 3 yards. Armenia failed to score for a fifth consecutive match as they lost 3-0 away to Czechia, whilst England wrapped up a perfect opening half to the group by beating Gibraltar 7-0, another hat-trick for Aguero.
This gives us this table at the halfway stage:
This gives us this table at the halfway stage:
It’ll come as no surprise to learn that England beat Armenia handsomely, with an Aguero hat-trick. However, it will be a surprise that this was the game where Armenia got their first goal, Marcos Pizzeli’s shot actually putting Armenia level, which they stayed until half time. The second half was all England, who eventually won 7-1. Denmark were also in seventh heaven as they won 7-0 away to Gibraltar. This meant that as Czechia and Romania played, the loser would be virtually eliminated. Once again, this was settled by a single goal, and it came in the 88th minute as Austrian international Andreas Ivanschitz ran onto Halil Altintop’s beautiful backheel to win it for Czechia.
Czechia followed this with a trip to Denmark, with a win needed to catch their rivals. However, Santander put Denmark ahead on the half hour, and the hosts held firm in the face of Czechia pressure. Denmark lost Novak to a second yellow late on, but still claimed a 1-0 win. Armenia, meanwhile, having finally worked out what a goal looks like, hit five unanswered ones beyond Gibraltar. Meanwhile, England guaranteed at least a top-two spot by thumping Romania 6-1, this time the hat-trick going to Mo Salah.
England could secure qualification by beating Denmark next, and Sanchez put them ahead with a tap-in in first half added time. However, Denmark did what no-one else has done so far, and held firm defensively. This meant it was still 1-0 in the 74th minute when Teemu Pukki slid Denmark level, and 1-1 was how the score stayed, ending England’s 100% record. Denmark’s point eliminated Romania, who only just scraped past Armenia 2-1. It also meant that Czechia had to win to stay alive, but incredibly they missed chance after chance and lost away to Gibraltar 2-1.
Romania may be playing badly, but they were able to avoid the same fate, beating Gibraltar 4-1 at home. Denmark overcame Armenia comfortably, 3-0 the score. Meanwhile, England also won 3-0, beating Czechia to seal top spot and qualify for the DWC finals!
Romania may be playing badly, but they were able to avoid the same fate, beating Gibraltar 4-1 at home. Denmark overcame Armenia comfortably, 3-0 the score. Meanwhile, England also won 3-0, beating Czechia to seal top spot and qualify for the DWC finals!
So with one game to go, unfortunately everything has already been decided:
So we’ll not focus on any of the final matches in much detail, I’ll just give a little synopsis of each.
Armenia vs. Czechia
Both sides here have underperformed. Armenia should at the very least have been finishing above Gibraltar, and this is their last chance to take any points off a non-Gibraltar side. Czechia, meanwhile, had realistic expectations of a top-two spot, but instead have barely taken more than a point per game. Danny, who last year represented Russia in the DWC, has been Czechia’s main man, and he was again here with both goals in a 2-0 victory.
Armenia vs. Czechia
Both sides here have underperformed. Armenia should at the very least have been finishing above Gibraltar, and this is their last chance to take any points off a non-Gibraltar side. Czechia, meanwhile, had realistic expectations of a top-two spot, but instead have barely taken more than a point per game. Danny, who last year represented Russia in the DWC, has been Czechia’s main man, and he was again here with both goals in a 2-0 victory.
Romania vs. Denmark
Had Romania been better in the mid-table 6 pointers, there’s every chance this would have been a play-off decider. As it is, Denmark are already qualified for the play-offs, but a win could put them in with a chance of being Europe’s best-performing 2nd-place side, which would see them into the Intercontinental play-off. However, they fell behind to Florentin Matei’s tap-in to trail 1-0 at half time. After having an equaliser ruled out, Denmark eventually did get level through Pieros Sotiriou’s quality finish, but Romania immediately re-took the lead through Alexandru Baluta’s calm finish, and 2-1 was the final score.
Had Romania been better in the mid-table 6 pointers, there’s every chance this would have been a play-off decider. As it is, Denmark are already qualified for the play-offs, but a win could put them in with a chance of being Europe’s best-performing 2nd-place side, which would see them into the Intercontinental play-off. However, they fell behind to Florentin Matei’s tap-in to trail 1-0 at half time. After having an equaliser ruled out, Denmark eventually did get level through Pieros Sotiriou’s quality finish, but Romania immediately re-took the lead through Alexandru Baluta’s calm finish, and 2-1 was the final score.
England vs. Gibraltar
England had the chance to equal Spain’s 28-point haul, and have a fairly straightforward chance to, despite Gibraltar’s impressive results so far. Vincent Kompany headed England in an early lead, and they had the chance to double it from the spot, but Raul Navas denied Hazard with a flying save. Surprisingly, Gibraltar did a good job of keeping England at bay, and it took another penalty for Hazard to finally double England’s lead. But this wasn’t over, and Tato’s tantalising cross allowed Kike to nod Gibraltar to within one. England were given a third penalty of the match, and Hazard completed the possible outcomes for a penalty by missing the goal and hitting the post. Gibraltar couldn’t find a second goal, and England won – very unconvincingly – 2-1.
England had the chance to equal Spain’s 28-point haul, and have a fairly straightforward chance to, despite Gibraltar’s impressive results so far. Vincent Kompany headed England in an early lead, and they had the chance to double it from the spot, but Raul Navas denied Hazard with a flying save. Surprisingly, Gibraltar did a good job of keeping England at bay, and it took another penalty for Hazard to finally double England’s lead. But this wasn’t over, and Tato’s tantalising cross allowed Kike to nod Gibraltar to within one. England were given a third penalty of the match, and Hazard completed the possible outcomes for a penalty by missing the goal and hitting the post. Gibraltar couldn’t find a second goal, and England won – very unconvincingly – 2-1.
Final standings
Top scorers: Sergio Aguero (ENG) 18 goals; Pukki (DEN) 8 goals; Hazard (ENG), Santander (DEN) 7 goals
Highest average ratings: Kevin de Bruyne (ENG) 8.83; Aguero (ENG) 8.65; Hazard (ENG) 8.53
Next time
That was not as easy a group as England made it look. With such a comprehensive performance, they have laid down a serious marker with their new-look fearsome side. Next time we go back to North America, for another Round 2 group. USA are the top seeds, but can Dexter Blackstock’s Antigua & Barbuda side shock them? Probably not...
Highest average ratings: Kevin de Bruyne (ENG) 8.83; Aguero (ENG) 8.65; Hazard (ENG) 8.53
Next time
That was not as easy a group as England made it look. With such a comprehensive performance, they have laid down a serious marker with their new-look fearsome side. Next time we go back to North America, for another Round 2 group. USA are the top seeds, but can Dexter Blackstock’s Antigua & Barbuda side shock them? Probably not...