Concluding an exciting week of matches that found several teams clinching berths in next summer’s Euro tournament, Wednesday’s final day provided a fitting conclusion.
With the final matches of the qualifying group stage set to begin on Oct. 8, several teams made sure to lay claim to the driver’s seat with impressive last day results.
England 2-0 Switzerland
Wayne Rooney set England’s all-time goals record with a penalty in the 84th minute. Harry Kane also scored, while Fabian Delph left the match after suffering a hamstring injury within its first half-minute.
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Sweden 1-4 Austria
Austria is going to Euro 2016. Martin Harnik and David Alaba struck in the first half as the Austrian side tried to put qualifying in its rear view mirror. An end-to-end affair, Harnik added a second in the second half before Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled back a goal in stoppage time.
Liechtenstein 0-7 Russia
Russia already had a 1-0 lead when Daniel Kaufmann took a red card for the hosts. Artyom Dzyuba scored twice in the first half to move the visitors into the comfort zone before finishing with a haul of four goals on the night. Russia moves into second place in Group G.
Moldova 0-2 Montenegro
New Atletico Madrid back Stefan Savic scored a first half goal for the visitors, and a second half own goal salted the game away.
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Macedonia 0-1 Spain
The Spaniards controlled the first half, with Juan Mata scoring their only goal of the frame in the 8th minute. That was it for the goals, as Spain held Macedonia without a shot on goal. Spain is all but in the tournament.
Belarus 2-0 Luxembourg
BATE Borisov’s Mikhail Gordeychuk scored in each half to lift the hosts to all three points.
Slovakia 0-0 Ukraine
Of the 19 total shots in this game, just three found the frame.
Lithuania 2-1 San Marino
Fiodor Cernych scored one for the hosts, who were in danger of giving a point to the visitors when they went down to 10 men. Fabio Vitaioli evened things up before San Marino took a red of its own, falling in stoppage time.
Slovenia 1-0 Estonia
There wasn’t a ton to this one, but Beric scored the match’s only goal in the 63rd minute. That moves Slovenia into third place, three points back of Switzerland.