World Round-up: Portugal need Ronaldo; Spain smash Swiss and high fives for rivals
And a win for the England-born Irishman in charge of England against Ireland. Here's the weekend round-up
Wondering “what could have been” is a huge part of football discourse, usually centring around “the one that got away”.
At the weekend, the wondering stopped and the reality began for long-suffering Ireland fans and the ones that got away stared them in the face, slapped them in said face, and rode away with all three points.
We’ll get into it later and much more, but first, a look at who else made the headlines over the weekend in September’s international window!
That Ronaldo’s all right, isn’t he?
For the second time in three days, Portugal won 2-1 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon with the winning goal scored by Cristiano Ronaldo.
I was one of the millions upon millions of people who thought Ronaldo was done, or at least should be done at international level after watching him at the Euros force himself into centre stage only to fluff his lines over and over and over again, hindering what should have been a fabulous Portugal team.
Picking him again for this month’s matches meant I joined the pile-on criticising Roberto Martínez for being in Ronaldo’s pocket, too scared not to select him.
Yet, the 39-year-old not only scored the winner against Croatia, but completed the turnaround for his side in the 88th minute after falling behind to Scott McTominay’s early goal for Scotland on Sunday.
Sure, it was a tap in, but like all good forwards, he was in the right place at the right time to win the game for his side.
It may have been “just” the Nations League, but thanks to those goals, Portugal sit atop a tough League A Group 1 with maximum points from two matches. Credit where it’s due.
In the same group, the storyline was remarkably similar in Osijek, where another 39-year-old, Luka Modrić, scored the winner in Croatia’s 1-0 win over Poland.
Unlike Ronaldo, Modrić needed to apply a lot more work to his finish; curling a delicate 20-yard free-kick over the wall and past Łukasz Skorupski in goal. That takes Croatia to three points, level with Poland who defeated Scotland on matchday one.
Spain halt Swiss roll
Switzerland found out to their cost on Sunday that one wouldn’t like Spain when they’re angry, as not even a red card stopped Spain living up to their Furia Roja nickname.
The home side had not been beaten in a competitive home fixture since the reigning Nations League champions last visited two years ago in the same competition.
But the new European champions, who had endured 90 minutes of frustration in their 0-0 draw with Serbia on Thursday, clicked back into gear and romped to a 4-1 win in Geneva.
Joselu, unused against Serbia and indeed for much of the Euros campaign, took four minutes to break the deadlock, before two Fabián Ruiz strikes either side of a Zeki Amdouni goal gave Spain the points before Ferran Torres’ goal added a flourish.
What made it all the more impressive was that Spain played 70 minutes with 10 men, after Robin Le Normand went for a very early bath.
Their hunger was questioned after being held by a makeshift Serbia side, but Luis de la Fuente’s men have hit back in style, going second in Group A4 as Switzerland look a shadow of the team that went so well in Germany.
Serbia could not match the same intensity on an away trip to Denmark, who recorded a second 2-0 home win of the week. Albert Grønbæk scored in the first half, before Yussuf Poulsen made it two after the break.
Germany and the Netherlands added a little extra spice to their meeting in Amsterdam tomorrow after they both scored five on matchday one in Group A3.
Bosnia & Herzegovina found themselves an equaliser to Joshua Zirkzee’s opener in Eindhoven through Ermedin Demirović, but the sucker punch arrived just before the break as Tijjani Reijnders restored the lead.
Cody Gakpo added a third, but the Bosnians would not lie down and talisman Edin Džeko pulled one back, only for late Wout Weghorst and Xavi Simons goals to give the Dutch a 5-2 win.
Germany’s night in Düsseldorf was much more comprehensive, as they scored five unanswered against Hungary. Niklas Füllkrug got the ball rolling in the first half, before Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Aleksandar Pavlović and Kai Havertz steamrolled the Hungarians in the second.
The German side look primed and ready to make a statement in this tournament as they gear up for World Cup qualifying, but what on earth has happened to many people’s Euro dark horses?
“Snakes” come back to bite
Lee Carsley’s reign as England interim manager began with a 2-0 win in Dublin over Ireland in UEFA Nations League B Group 2, as sections of the English media frothed at the mouth at his decision not to sing “God Save the King.”
That despite the fact that he never sang it as England under-21 manager, nor did he sing "Amhrán na bhFiann" when the Birmingham-born Irishman won 40 caps for the Boys in Green as a player.
That incredibly tedious “narrative” out of the way, what pleased the English media much more - and left the whole of Ireland left with a sense of inevitability at best and pure anger at worst - were first half goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish.
Grealish played for Ireland from under-17 to under-21 level, while Rice won three caps for the Ireland senior side before making the switch and overtaking Grealish as public enemy number one in the stands at the Aviva Stadium.
The saddest part about Ireland being powerless to stop two men who were once their own was that it just felt like the logical next step on the downward spiralling staircase that is Irish football.
“Off-field problems” is a phrase all too often associated with the Football Association of Ireland, who took a whole 10 months to appoint a successor to Stephen Kenny, whose spell in charge featured defeats to Luxembourg and Armenia as Ireland failed to get the best out of talented young players who Kenny was meant to be best-placed to do.
As for England, a superb “un-Southgate-like” performance in the first half glossed over what was actually an uninspiring second in which Ireland were the better team for a large part. England will need to win and win well against Finland tomorrow to keep Carsley en vogue, while Ireland’s home game with Greece will be a better barometer of their start under Heimir Hallgrímsson.
The Greece fixture will barely be any easier if their 3-0 win over Finland is anything to go by. Two Fotis Ioannidis strikes and an own goal making the difference in Piraeus.
Greece’s Euro 2024 play-off conquerors Georgia have continued their fine form from that competition by putting four past their Euros group opponents Czechia. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Georges Mikautadze also got on the score sheet in a 4-1 win in Group B1.
In League C, Sweden and Slovakia added to their midweek away successes by beating Estonia and Azerbaijan 3-0 and 2-0, respectively, giving them six points and their opponents zero so far. The first matchday in October will be crucial in Group C1, as Slovakia host Sweden and Azerbaijan go to Tallinn in matches that will go a long way to deciding the promotion and relegation places.
In C3, Luxembourg have failed to build on their positive Euros qualifying campaign, losing without scoring for the second time this month as Belarus won 1-0 away. One goal was enough in Plovdiv, too, as Bulgaria got the better of Northern Ireland. Belarus and Bulgaria sit atop on four points with identical records.
San Marino will stay TOP of League D Group 1 for a whole month after a goal apiece in added time caused a frantic finish at Europa Point, where Gibraltar drew 2-2 with Liechtenstein.
Liechtenstein’s second equaliser of the game came in the 104th minute, giving them something to cheer after they went down in the history books as the first team to lose a competitive match to San Marino.
In Group 2, two first half goals were enough for favourites Moldova to see off Malta. Malta will try again tomorrow to get off the mark, this time away in Andorra.
Samoa Sa-motoring on
We have ourselves a winner in the First Round of OFC qualifying for the 2026 World Cup!
Samoa, hosts of the four-team tournament, beat Tonga 2-1 after extra-time in the final, having only equalised in the 86th minute through Luke Salisbury, cancelling out Ulafala Sonasi’s opener.
Jefferson Faamatau’s winner on the stroke of half-time in extra-time means Samoa progress to the Second Round, where they will be in a tough Group B alongside New Zealand, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
Anthony Tomas is a football writer and commentator, who writes for Flashscore and World Soccer Magazine.