The UEFA Nations League action continued on Monday as Croatia and Denmark secured a quarterfinal spot, while San Marino claimed a historic promotion with a win over Liechtenstein, Afrosport reports.
Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol scored his third international goal and first since the 2022 World Cup in a second-half equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw for Croatia against Portugal in Group A1 as both teams advance to March’s quarter-finals.
Joao Felix gave Portugal the lead in the 33rd minute, firing the ball low past Dominik Livakovic before Gvardiol scored from close range to beat Portugal goalkeeper Jose Sa to level the score at full time.
Elsewhere in Group A1, Scotland captain Andy Robertson’s stoppage-time winner snatched a 2-1 victory over Poland to secure a relegation lifeline.
John McGinn smashed home the ball from a Ben Doak pass just three minutes in for Scots while Poland centre-back Kamil Piatkowski pulled a stunning equaliser in the 59th minute. Robertson’s late header on the occasion of his 80th cap earned Scotland a relegation play-off in March.
Scotland missed out on second place after Croatia’s 1-1 draw at home to Portugal, but the victory also boosted the chances of Clarke’s men edging their way into pot two of next month’s World Cup qualifying draw.
In Group A4, Spain ended their Nations League group stage with a 3-2 win over Switzerland. Yeremy Pino slammed in a rebound in the 32nd minute for the home after Pedri’s penalty was saved by the Swiss goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo.
Joel Monteiro slotted the ball in between Sanchez’s legs to bring Switzerland level with Spain in the 63rd minute, but Bryan Gil put Luis Enrique’s side back ahead five minutes later.
With five minutes left, Andi Zeqiri netted a penalty to make it 2-2, bringing Switzerland level for the second time on the night but referee Bastian Dankert pointed to the spot for the third time in the match as Bryan Zaragoza’s spot-kick in the third minute of added time sealed the success for La Roja.
In another Group A4 match, Denmark played a goalless draw against 10-man Serbia as they joined European champions Spain in the quarter-finals. Serbia, who finished third, will face a League B side in a relegation-promotion play-off.
Romania secured promotion to League B of the Nations League after a convincing 4-1 victory over Cyprus in a Group C2 match. Daniel Bîrligea opened scoring for the Tricolours two minutes into the game as he finished coolly beyond Cyprus goalkeeper Dimitris Dimitriou. Razvan Marin’s rebound doubled the lead for the hosts three minutes before halftime after Bîrligea’s initial effort was saved by Dimitriou.
Sofronis Avgousti’s side halved the deficit in the 52nd minute for the visitors, before Marins and Florinel Coman’s goals in the 80th and 83rd minute respectively secured Mircea Lucescu’s men’s promotion over ten men in Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Muharrem Jashari’s winning goal in the fifth-minute goals gave 10 men – Kosovo victory over Lithuania in another Group C1 encounter.
Northern Ireland earned promotion as winners of Group C3. Following a 2-2 draw against Luxembourg,
The Norn Iron opened the scoring with a well-worked goal in the 19th minute by Isaac Price. Conor Bradley doubled the advantage early in the second half, but Seid Korac got Luxembourg back into it in the 72nd minute – and moments later, Gerson Rodrigues fired in the equaliser.
Yuri Kovalev’s 70th-minute goal for Belarus cancelled Vasil Panayotov’s 22-minute goal for Bulgaria as both sides drew 1-1 in the Group C3 game.
Best performance?! 🌟#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/ooPfjI3DQ6
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) November 18, 2024
Meanwhile, world 210-ranked side San Marino earned Nations League promotion after beating Liechtenstein 3-1 to record their first-ever away victory.
Liechtenstein had initially taken a first-half lead through Aron Sele before second-half goals from Lorenzo Lazzari, Nicola Nann, and Alessandro Golinucci saw the tiny nation, who are officially Fifa’s lowest-ranked team in the world, claim their first-ever away win.
