Ukraine and Sweden qualify
November 17, 2015Ukraine and Sweden drew with Slovenia and Denmark on Tuesday evening respectively, but both booked their places at the European Championships in France next summer.
Ukraine lead their tie against Slovenia 2-0 from the first leg, which occurred three days ago in Lviv. The leaders from the first leg didn't get off to the best start in Maribor, though.
Slovenia captain Bostjan Cesar's opened the scoring for the home side after just 11 minutes, before Andriy Yarmolekno scored in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time for Ukraine to secure the European Championship place.
Shortly before Yarmolenko's goal, which sealed the tie, Slovenia had right back Miso Brecko sent off for a reckless challenge on Yevhen Konoplaynka.
The outcome was also sweet revenge for Ukraine after they suffered a 3-2 aggregate defeat by Slovenia in the Euro 2000 playoffs, when the former Yugoslav republic reached their first major tournament as an independent nation.
Party time for Sweden
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the star as Sweden completed a victory over Denmark that was more comfortable than the final scoreline suggested.
The Paris-Saint Germain forward opened the scoring after 19 minutes with a delicate finish from Kim Kallstrom's corner. Ibrahimovic settled the affair 14 minutes from time with a stunning free-kick from distance that meant Denmark would now need to score an improbable four times to reach the Euros.
The hosts didn't give up and pulled back late goals from Yussuf Poulsen and Jannik Vestergaard, but they nonetheless came up well short.
The wins means that all 24 places in the tournament have now been confirmed.
Euro 2016 teams: France (hosts), Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales.