BERLIN: Germany, England and Poland all took another step toward World Cup qualification but the Netherlands’ failure to do the same cost national coach Danny Blind his job on Sunday.
The Dutch football association fired Blind one day after his team’s humiliating 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria in Sofia — a result that leaves the 2014 World Cup semifinalist in danger of missing out on a second successive major tournament after watching Euro 2016 at home.
The Netherlands is fourth in Group A behind France, Sweden and Bulgaria. Only the top team in each group qualifies automatically for next year’s tournament in Russia.
On the field Sunday, defending champion Germany remained on course with its fifth win from five games despite conceding its first goal in Group C. It beat Azerbaijan 4-1.
England, now the only team not to have conceded so far in European qualifying, beat Lithuania 2-0 in Group F. On an emotional day, Jermain Defoe led England out onto the pitch with a terminally ill five-year-old mascot by his side and then scored in front of him.
In Group E, Poland captain Robert Lewandowski scored again as his first-placed team beat second-placed Montenegro 2-1.
Here is a look at World Cup qualifiers in Europe on Sunday:
GROUP C
Germany stayed perfect in qualifying despite conceding its first goal of the campaign in a 4-1 away win over Azerbaijan. Little-used forward Andre Schuerrle scored two and set up another.
“We absolutely fulfilled our duty,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said. “It was like a cup game against a team from a lower division. If you don’t go in at the top of your game, you make them stronger than they are.”
Germany has scored 20 goals so far in its group and next faces last-placed San Marino, which has conceded 23 goals already.
The world champion leads by five points from Northern Ireland, which defeated Norway 2-0 in Belfast thanks to first-half goals from Jamie Ward and Conor Washington.
The Czech Republic, which racked up a 6-0 win in San Marino, is two points further back, one ahead of Azerbaijan. Two each from Antonin Barak and Vladimir Darida, and goals from Theodor Gebre Selassie and Michal Krmencik, gave the Czechs their biggest ever away win.
GROUP E
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski scored for the 10th straight European qualifier to set his side on its way to a 2-1 win in Montenegro to consolidate top spot.
The home side equalized through Stefan Mugosa’s first international goal but Lukasz Piszczek claimed Poland’s winner late to open up a six-point lead and leave Montenegro in a four-way scrap with Denmark, Romania and Armenia for second place.
Montenegro is level with Denmark on seven points after the Danes’ goalless draw in Romania, which is level with Armenia a point further back.
Despite starting with three straight losses, Armenia revived its hopes of a playoff spot by defeating Kazakhstan 2-0 at home for a second consecutive victory under new coach Artur Petrosyan.
Bottom side Kazakhstan had Sergey Malyy sent off with his second yellow card with less than half an hour remaining, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan struck nine minutes later before Aras Ozbiliz sealed the win.
GROUP F
Jermain Defoe made an emotional return from exile to lead England to a 2-0 win over Lithuania at Wembley Stadium.
Though Joe Hart wore the captain’s armband, Defoe led the side out onto the pitch with a terminally ill five-year-old mascot, cancer-stricken Bradley Lowery, with whom the Sunderland striker has formed a bond.
With Lowery watching on, the 34-year-old Defoe then scored his first England goal for four years, striking 21 minutes into his 56th appearance. Raheem Sterling glided through the defense and provided a sweet cross for Defoe to net his 20th international goal.
“I had to keep my emotions in the beginning with little Brad with me,” Defoe said after his first England appearance since November 2013. “It was special just to be back.”
Defoe played almost an hour before being replaced by Jamie Vardy, who scored with his first touch to wrap up the win for England to extend its lead to four points following Slovenia’s first defeat.
It was neighboring Scotland that did England the favor, beating Slovenia 1-0 thanks to Chris Martin’s late goal.
Scotland climbed to fourth place and is only two points behind Slovakia, which moved into second by beating Malta 3-1 away.
Germany, England, Poland stay on course in World Cup qualifiers
Germany, England, Poland stay on course in World Cup qualifiers
Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh
- Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively
RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
