Ukraine found another late winning goal in another comeback win. Georgia and Poland held their nerve in penalty shootouts. All are going to the European Championship.Mykhailo Mudryk, centre, celebrates scoring the eventual game-winning goal during Ukraine's 2-1 victory over Iceland on Tuesday. The victory secured Ukraine's place in the upcoming Euro 2024. Ukraine found another late winning goal in another comeback win. Georgia and Poland held their nerve in penalty shootouts.
The "home" game for Ukraine was played in neutral Poland because international games cannot be played in Kyiv for security reasons during the military invasion by Russia, whose team UEFA banned from trying to qualify. The victory marks Ukraine's first entry into a major soccer tournament since Russia's invasion two years ago.Georgia and star forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will make their major tournament debut at Euro 2024 after beating Greece 4-2 in a penalty shootout. It had been a tense and testy 0-0 draw in a raucous atmosphere in Tbilisi.
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski, who had scored the first spot-kick of the shootout, could not bear to watch the action when his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pushed away the final penalty taken by Dan James. Ukraine would not be denied this time and twice within five days rallied in the second half and found a late goal to win 2-1. Last week, Coach Serhiy Rebrov's had trailed 1-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina until the 85th.Viktor Tsygankov levelled in the 54th from just outside the Iceland penalty box, close to the spot where Chelsea winger Mudryk would win the game 30 minutes later.
Georgia will start against Turkey on June 18 in Dortmund, then play the Czechs on June 22 in Hamburg, and finish against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal on June 26 in Gelsenkirchen, at the home stadium of Schalke.Russia's soccer friendly against Paraguay put off indefinitely due to Moscow terrorist attack