Defending European champions Spain suffered their first qualifying defeat in eight years on Thursday when they slumped to a 2-1 loss against Slovakia, while England made it two wins in two.
Spain, who had opened their Euro 2016 campaign with a 5-1 mauling of Macedonia, exhibited all the faults which had led to their World Cup humiliation as Slovakia went top of Group C with a perfect six points.
Former Chelsea midfielder Miroslav Stoch, now plying his trade at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, struck three minutes from time in Zilina to condemn Vicente del Bosque’s team to a first qualifying defeat since 2006, a streak lasting 36 matches.
Photo: Reuters
They trailed to a 17th-minute Juraj Kucka free-kick, before Paco Alcacer’s strike eight minutes from time appeared to salvage a point, but with just three minutes left Slovakia launched a counterattack as captain Marek Hamsik played substitute Michal Duris down the inside-right channel to cross for Stoch to head home at the back post.
“I definitely didn’t expect this result, it was unexpected,” Del Bosque said.
“We should have scored more goals, but we got hit with a deadly counter. This is football, we can’t reproach the players,” he said. “We were patient, but we didn’t manage to finish it off and their goalkeeper was outstanding.”
Photo: AFP
At a subdued Wembley, England made it two wins from two with a routine 5-0 defeat of whipping boys San Marino.
Wayne Rooney took his international goal tally to 42 and forced Alessandro Della Valle into a late own-goal, while Phil Jagielka, Danny Welbeck and substitute Andros Townsend also found the target.
Having won 2-0 away to Switzerland in their Group E opener, England have now prevailed in what are likely to be their hardest and easiest fixtures of the campaign. They play away against Estonia tomorrow.
Photo: AFP
“Job well done,” England manager Roy Hodgson said.
“The crowd were fantastic. They’ve had an enjoyable night. We could have had more, but I can’t fault the players. I’m really pleased,” Hodgson said.
“At 5-0 when we lost the ball, we had three or four players sprinting back to win the ball back. That type of desire is very commendable,” he added.
Switzerland’s campaign went from bad to worse as the team that made the round-of-16 at the FIFA World Cup finals slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Slovenia.
Milivoje Novakovic grabbed the winner from the penalty spot in Maribor in the 79th minute after defender Johan Djourou had brought down Kevin Kampl.
Switzerland pressed for a point, but were denied by a string of fine saves by Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
Lithuania also made it two wins in two in the group with a 1-0 victory over Estonia in Vilnius.
Group G favorites Sweden and Russia fought out a 1-1 draw in Solna, but Fabio Capello’s Russia stay top on goal-difference from Montenegro and Austria.
Ola Toivonen scored a second-half equalizer for Sweden, who were missing injured striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Stade Rennais forward canceled out Dynamo Moscow forward Alexander Kokorin’s first-half opener as Sweden drew for the second time in as many group matches.
Sweden should have claimed all three points, but they missed a first-half penalty awarded after Igor Smolnikov fouled Jimmy Durmaz in the penalty area.
Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev got down to parry Sunderland midfielder Sebastian Larsson’s spot-kick.
Montenegro were held to an embarrassing 0-0 draw by Liechtenstein, playing their 100th international, in Vaduz.
Liechtenstein held on for the draw, despite having to field two goalkeepers — first choice Peter Jehle picking up an injury and having to be replaced by Cengiz Bicer.
Austria edged Moldova 2-1 in Chisinau, despite playing the last 10 minutes with 10 men.
Marc Janko scored Austria’s winner, but was then sent off after David Alaba and Alexandru Dedov had swapped first-half penalties.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care