EM playoff standings – “Oldie” Pandev – y: 3 thrillers for 3 innings EM – sport

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

For Georgia, the dream of participating in the 1st European Championship is over. Despite much effort, they lost a 0-1 home loss in the European Championship playoffs against North Macedonia. Goran Pandev scored the only goal in the duel of the top two teams in the Nations League’s lowest class in the 56th minute after a remarkable combination.

Pandev consolidated his exceptional situation at home with the historic goal: the 37-year-old forward, who has played almost uninterruptedly in Italy for 19 years, is Macedonia’s international record (114 games) and top scorer (36). Former Lugano player Ezgjan Alioski played down the left wing. North Macedonia will face the Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine in Group C at MS 2021.

Tension to the end

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

• Hungary 2-1 Iceland: Iceland was able to thank Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi first: a truly harmless central free kick from Gylfi Sigurdsson slipped out of his gloves (11th). But the people in front of the Leipzig goalkeeper made the change with goals in the 88th and 92nd minute.
• Serbia – Scotland 4: 5 nP: A Celtic co-production by Callum McGregor, striker Ryan Christie, gave the Scots the well-deserved 1-0. Only in the 90th minute did the growing Serbs make it 1-1 with a header from Luka Jovic. After a goalless extra time, the penalty shoot-out had to decide. Since Scottish goalkeeper David Marshall dodged Aleksandar Mitrovic after 9 consecutive hits, Serbia missed the Euro Cup opener.
• Northern Ireland – Slovakia 1: 2 nV: As Juraj Kucka had escaped from the Northern Ireland defense with a Speedy Gonzales-style sprint and scored as ice (17), the hosts were behind until the 88th minute. In the final offense, Northern Ireland provoked a goal at Milan Skriniar’s own goal (88th), Kyle Lafferty even lost the lead in the 90th minute with his goal off the post. That had consequences: in the 110th minute Michal Duris closed a counterattack to make it 2-1 for the Slovaks.