The first round of Euro 2016 qualifying games took place this week and provided some top quality football as well as some surprise results.
In Group B Bosnia-Herzegovina were shocked by Cyprus. Bosnia’s Vedad Ibisevic gave Bosnia an early lead; however, Cyprus came back with two goals from Demetris Christofi to win the match 2 – 1.
The Cyprian victory is also good news for Group B’s Wales who came from behind to defeat Andorra 2 – 1 with two goals from Gareth Bale. Wales now has a real chance at qualifying for the finals and will be eagerly anticipating next month’s games.
England’s 2 – 0 win over Switzerland will have come as a relief for both the team and fans. It was the first time that Switzerland had lost a competitive match at home in four years. Now England can relax slightly as the competition in Group E should be fairly straightforward.
In Group A Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea’s midfielder was the star player as Iceland beat Turkey 3 – 0 in Reykjavik. Iceland came extremely close to qualifying for their first ever major tournament last year, just missing out to Croatia in a World Cup play-off and look to be determined not to miss out this time around.
Also in Group A the Czech Republic beat Holland 2 – 1 thanks to an injury time goal from Vaclav Pilar.
Group H began well for Croatia with victory over Malta thanks to a fantastic goal from Luka Modric. The Real Madrid player kicked the ball home from 30-yards just after half time and Andrej Kramaric scored the second in the 81st minute.
This weekend all the major European leagues are back in action after a two week break.