Romania clinched a spot in Euro 2016 with a 3-0 away win over the Faeroe Islands on Sunday, while Greece beat Hungary 4-3 to avoid a winless qualifying campaign.
Two first-half goals by Constantin Bulescu secured second place in Group F for Romania, behind already-qualified Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland drew 1-1 with Finland in Helsinki after allowing a late equalizer by Paulus Arajuuri. Craig Cathcart had put the visitors ahead in the 31st minute.
Photo: Reuters
In Torshavn, Faeroe Islands, Bulescu opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a powerful shot just inside the penalty area after a cross from the left by Razvan Rat.
Budescu’s second came from what seemed to be intended as a cross in first-half stoppage-time that looped over goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen and into the net.
In the 83rd minute, Alexandru Maxim and Bogdan Stanku exchanged quick passes and Maxim beat Nielsen to cap the scoring.
Photo: Reuters
Greece finally ended their miserable run when substitute Panagiotis Kone headed in the winner in the 86th minute.
Coach Costas Tsanas made six changes to the starting lineup from the squad that lost 3-1 to Northern Ireland three days previously and it seemed to quickly pay off when Costas Stafylidis opened the scoring in the fifth minute. It was Greece’s first home goal in the qualifiers.
However, Hungary soon took over and equalized in the 26th minute with a header by Gergo Lovrencsics, before Krisztian Nemeth put Hungary ahead from point-blank range in the 55th.
Two minutes later, Panayiotis Tachtsidis met Petros Mantalos’ forward pass and blasted a shot from just inside the penalty area into the Hungary net.
In the 76th minute, Hungary took the lead again. Zsolt Kalmar, who had entered the game five minutes earlier, avoided two Greece defenders and as two more closed in passed to an unmarked Nemeth for an easy goal.
Three minutes later, Tachtsidis made a defense-splitting pass to Costas Mitroglou who made it 3-3, before Kone scored the winner from Jose Holebas’ cross.
“Definitely a bittersweet victory,” Tsanas said.
Hungary finished third in the group and will have another chance to reach the Euro 2016 finals through a playoff.
“We had always planned for a third-placed finish... Greece were unlucky not to have scored in previous games,” Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite