Substitute Dimitrios Kourbelis on Sunday gave Greece a shock 1-0 UEFA Nations League win away to Germany as Ireland’s players wore black armbands for their match against Israel.
Portugal coach Jorge Jesus dropped Cristiano Ronaldo and was rewarded as his replacement Goncalo Ramos scored the winner in a 2-1 success away to Norway.
Juergen Klopp was made to wait for his maiden victory in charge of an ineffective Germany as Kourbelis’ deflected second-half strike settled the game in Augsburg.
Photo: Reuters
The former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss had made five changes to his team which on Thursday drew 1-1 with the Netherlands as he sought to give more of his players a chance to impress him.
Although midfielder Bambase Conte had an impressive debut and Germany dominated possession, they rarely threatened Konstantinos Tzolakis’ goal.
“Personally, I’m completely unbothered by it. I’ve lost far more matches in my life than I would have liked,” Klopp told ARD. “We absolutely need these kinds of matches — they are exactly the games we wanted to have.”
Photo: Reuters
Ireland’s players came out wearing black armbands for their match with Israel in Hungary, which almost did not take place due to heavy pressure back in Ireland on the team to boycott the game over the war in Gaza.
Only a player vote in midweek allowed the game to go ahead.
Ireland has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, and the players bowed their heads as the Israeli anthem was played before the match.
The teams skipped the traditional prematch handshakes and did not exchange pennants either in a near-empty stadium in Debrecen.
Troy Parrott made a heart sign with his hands after opening the scoring on 14 minutes, while Jack Moylan kissed the Irish badge on his jersey and his black armband after netting the third goal 25 minutes in.
Ireland won the game 3-0, but Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar accused them of being “on the wrong side of history” over the players’ actions.
In Oslo, Joao Felix gave Portugal a 17th-minute lead as an unusually profligate Erling Haaland squandered a succession of chances.
He did eventually equalize for the hosts six minutes into the second half, but almost immediately, goalkeeper Orjan Nyland gifted Ramos a simple finish for the winner.
“The most important thing is to show what I can do whenever I’m called upon and to contribute to the team,” Ramos told Sport TV, without being drawn on his selection ahead of Ronaldo.
The Netherlands gave Xavi Hernandez his first win as head coach as Mexx Meerdink’s brace earned a 2-1 success over Serbia in Belgrade.
The Oranje turned to Barcelona great Xavi after a disappointing FIFA World Cup last-32 exit at the hands of Morocco.
However, Xavi’s men forged ahead on the half-hour mark as AZ Alkmaar striker Meerdink drilled in a penalty to score his first international goal after Aleksa Terzic fouled Crysencio Summerville.
Halftime substitute Luka Jovic turned in the equalizer following a goalmouth scramble less than a minute after the restart.
However, the visitors reclaimed the lead in the 69th minute as Meerdink, who made his Netherlands debut against Germany, fired a left-footed shot into the bottom corner after being played in by substitute Guus Til.
Denmark bounced back from Thursday’s dramatic loss to Norway by seeing off Wales 2-0 in Copenhagen in Group A4.
The Scandinavians, who missed out on the World Cup with a penalty shoot-out defeat by the Czech Republic in the playoffs, have now won their last four meetings with Wales.
They went ahead eight minutes into the second period when Wales skipper Ben Davies diverted Mikkel Damsgaard’s free-kick into his own net with his arm.
Denmark doubled their advantage 13 minutes later when Gustav Isaksen’s deflected shot spun in off the crossbar.
In League B, Austria made it two wins from two as David Affengruber, Junior Adamu and Carney Chukwuemeka scored in a 3-1 win over Kosovo in Vienna.
Japan has been starved of swimming success in recent times but with the Olympics two years away junk food-loving teenager Shin Ohashi has emerged as their next big hope. The 17-year-old, who stands just 169cm, has posted the two fastest 200m breaststroke times in the world this year and is aiming for the world record at this year’s Asian Games. Earlier this year he came within almost a second of the 2:05.48 record held by China’s Qin Haiyang. Ohashi has already won gold at the Asian Games in the 100m breaststroke after a dead heat with China’s Dong Zhihao, beating Qin into third
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has found itself divided ahead of their two Nations League clashes with Israel, with the players disagreeing over whether to boycott the first game today and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrawing from the squad. After hours of fraught meetings among the players and occasionally involving coaches and officials, FAI chief executive officer David Courell said at a news conference that had been delayed by several hours that a “significant majority” of the squad had agreed to play the game in Hungary, but it was far from a unanimous decision. The handful of Irish journalists present questioned Courell
THREE BRONZES: Martial artists dominated Taiwan’s gains for Tuesday, while the baseball team delivered Thailand a thunderous 15-0 shellacking that morning Taiwanese athletes at the Asian Games collected another three bronze medals yesterday, bringing their medals to nine, leaving them in 10th place overall as of yesterday evening, trailing Uzbekistan and leading Iran. Taiwan’s baseball team roared back from a 5-0 defeat by South Korea on Monday to squash Thailand 15-0 as they head into their game today against Hong Kong at 6:30pm at the Games in Japan. KARATE The women’s team kata squad and men’s kumite competitor Chung Meng-yu won bronze medals yesterday. The 34-year-old Chien Hui-hsuan, who won bronze in the women’s individual kata event on Sunday, was joined by
MORE MEDALS: Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team added a bronze to the nation’s medal haul, while the women’s basketball team advanced to the semi-finals Taiwan yesterday secured their first e-sports medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, claiming bronze in the Naraka: Bladepoint tournament after falling 0-3 to China in the semi-finals. The Taiwanese squad, comprising Liu Tang-shiun, Chen Shang-yi, Cheng Hsu-yu, Yen Kai-en and Yeh Chih-yu, had already secured a place on the podium when they advanced to the final four as the runners-up in their preliminary group. The bronze is first e-sports medal Taiwan has won at this year’s Asian Games. Naraka: Bladepoint is a game in which the players fight each other to be the last one standing. The game incorporates martial arts-inspired melee combat. TABLE
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