Sports Desk, Oct 16 (EFE).- A second-half strike from Gavi was enough for Spain to seal a 1-0 win over Norway in the Euro 2024 qualifying match in Oslo on Sunday and book their place in the final round in Germany.
Spain’s win means Scotland, who did not play on Sunday, also made it to the final round from Group A, while it diminished the hopes of Erling Haaland’s Norway finishing in the top two.
Turkey left it late to beat Latvia 4-0 in Adana to secure their place in the final round of the tournament for the sixth time—their third in a row.
The three teams joined France, Belgium, and Portugal, who confirmed their place in the final round days ago, and hosts Germany.
Three-time champions Spain will play in their 12th final round of the competition, their eighth in a row since England 1996.
Spain, who have failed to score only once in their last 43 European qualifiers, dominated Norway in the first half and saw Álvaro Morata’s goal ruled out by the video assistant referee.
VAR also took four minutes to validate Gavi’s goal after the Barcelona midfielder struck four minutes into the break.
Spain held onto their lead until the end to push Norway to the play-off round and take Scotland to the final round along with it.
Scotland, who had never made it past the second round, will be in the European Championship for the fourth time and the second in a row.
Turkey struggled to break Latvia’s defense in the first half but Yunus Akgun’s deadlock-breaking volley around the hour mark opened the floodgates.
Cenk Tosun scored a brace either side of Kerem Akturkoglu’s neat finish to ensure Turkey went six points clear of Wales and Croatia to top Group D with a game in hand.
Wales beat Croatia 2-1 in one of the most intriguing contests of the night in Cardiff, with Harry Wilson striking twice for the hosts before Mario Pasalic pulled one back for Croatia.
Croatia, who suffered back-to-back European Championship qualifying defeats for the first time after losing to Turkey in the previous match, must now wait until their next two matches in November to know their fate.
In the other matches of the night, Poland’s qualification hopes suffered a blow after a 1-1 draw with Moldova, while Czechia’s 1-0 win over the Faroe Islands in Plzen kept Group E leader Albania waiting.
Granit Xhaka equaled Heinz Hermann’s record 118 appearances for Switzerland in a 3-3 draw against Belarus in Group I to keep them on track for qualification.
Previously, France, with six victories out of six, secured qualification as leaders of Group B ahead of Greece and the Netherlands, who are bidding for the other spot.
Belgium accumulated five wins and one draw from their group to secure their third consecutive qualification for the final round.
This will be the seventh Euro Championship for the Red Devils, runners-up in 1980.
In the final round, they are joined by Portugal, who also have had an impeccable record this time with seven wins out of seven in their qualifying group.
For the ninth time, the 2016 champions Portuguese team will be in the final round. EFE
am/pd
