EM playoff qualification – “Oldie” Pandev – and: 3 thrillers for 3 EM – sport tickets

• Thanks to a 1-0 victory in Georgia in the European Championship qualifying playoffs, North Macedonia enters a European Championship for the first time in history.
• After real Hitchcock matches, Hungary (against Iceland), Scotland (against Serbia) and Slovakia (against Northern Ireland) have also bought the ticket for the European 2021.

For Georgia the dream of participating in the 1st European Championship is over. Despite great efforts, they lost a 0-1 home defeat in the European Championship playoffs to North Macedonia. Goran Pandev scored the only goal in the duel between the top two teams in the lowest class of the Nations League in the 56th minute after an extraordinary combination.

Pandev consolidates his exceptional status at home with the historic goal: the 37-year-old striker, who has played almost continuously in Italy for 19 years, is the national record of Macedonia (114 games) and top scorer (36). Former Lugano Ezgjan Alioski played on the left wing. North Macedonia will face the Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine in Group C at EM 2021.

Tension to the end

In the other 3 games there were real crimes. The visiting team was 1-0 until at least the 88th minute. And the host has always managed to equalize:

• Hungary 2-1 Iceland: Iceland was allowed to thank Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi first: a central and actually harmless free-kick from Gylfi Sigurdsson slipped between his gloves (11th). But the people in front of the Leipzig goalkeeper actually managed the overturn with goals in the 88th and 92nd minutes.
• Serbia – Scotland 4: 5 nP: A Celtic co-production by Callum McGregor, launched by scorer Ryan Christie, gave the Scots a well-deserved 1-0. Only in the 90th minute did the growing Serbs score 1-1 with a header from Luka Jovic. After extra time without a goal, the penalties had to decide. With Scottish goalkeeper David Marshall parrying against Aleksandar Mitrovic after 9 hits in a row, Serbia missed their first European championship.
• Northern Ireland – Slovakia 1: 2 nV: As Juraj Kucka escaped the Northern Irish defensive with a Speedy Gonzales-style sprint and hit the ice (17th), the hosts stayed behind until the 88th minute. In the final offensive Northern Ireland then provoked an own goal by Milan Skriniar (88th), Kyle Lafferty even missed the lead in the 90th minute with his goal at the post. This had consequences: in the 110th minute Michal Duris closed a counterattack for the 2-1 for the Slovaks.