The Netherlands had a disappointing start to qualifying for the European Championship and fellow World Cup team Bosnia-Herzegovina was stunned by Cyprus in Tuesday’s biggest upset. Wales narrowly avoided a similar stumble at tiny Andorra, while Italy had a comfortable victory in Antonio Conte’s first competitive game in charge. Here is a look at Tuesday’s qualifying games around Europe:
GROUP A: Defender Daryl Janmaat’s blunder handed substitute Vaclav Pilar an injury-time winner as the Czech Republic beat the Netherlands 2-1. Janmaat attempted to head a harmless cross back to his goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, but the ball beat him and Pilar pounced as it ricocheted off the post and into his path.
In other Group A matches, Kazakhstan and latvia played out a 0-0 draw and Iceland beat 10-man Turkey 3-0 to go top of the group on goal difference.
In Reykjavik, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson scored in the 18th minute and Iceland’s task of defending its lead was made easier when Omer Toprak was sent off in the 59th minute for his second yellow card. Gylfi Sigurdsson doubled the lead in the 76th minute and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson completed the scoring a minute later.
GROUP B: Wales needed two goals from star winger Gareth Bale to avoid a massive upset against Andorra, coming from behind to win 2-1 in the tiny principality. Cyprus did manage a shock in the other Group B game, beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 after the host missed a late penalty.
Wales is hoping to reach its first major tournament since 1958 after UEFA expanded the Euro 2016 field to 24 teams but got off to a poor start when Ildefons lima put the hosts ahead with a penalty in the sixth minute. It was Andorra’s first goal in a competitive game in four years.
Cyprus staged a similar comeback, with Dimitris Christofi scoring twice after Bosnia took the lead through Vedad Ibisevic in the sixth minute. Christofi beat goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to a cross and headed in the equalizer just before halftime. Belgium and Israel are also in the group, but their opening game was postponed until March because of the conflict in Gaza.
GROUP H: Simone Zaza scored his first international goal to help Italy beat Norway 2-0 in Oslo. Zaza, who became the first Sassuolo player to win an Italy cap last week, broke the deadlock following a mazy run with a shot from a tight angle which took a slight deflection to wrong-foot Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland. Strike partner Ciro Immobile was offside and in the goalkeeper’s line of vision, but the referee waved away Norway’s protests. leonardo Bonucci doubled Italy’s lead shortly after the hour mark, when the Juventus defender was left unmarked at the far post and headed in a cross from substitute Manuel Pasqual.
Elswhere in Group H, second-half goals from luka Modric and Andrej Kramaric gave Croatia a 2-0 win over Malta, while substitute Ventsislav Hristov’s late header gave Bulgaria a 2-1 victory in Azerbaijan.