Croatia to Final Four after a win over Austria, Danes win over French without value
NOS Football•
Croatia has qualified for the Final Four of the Nationals League. The Croats won the last group match in Vienna 3-1 against Austria, resulted in the victory of competitor Denmark over France (2-0) no longer had any meaning. ranked in 1 of division A with one point at number two Denmark.
The starting point for the final day of the qualifying matches in group 1 of division A was clear. Win over Austria for Croatia direct qualification to the Final Four. Competitor Denmark, which lost the lead through a 2-1 defeat in and against Croatia on Thursday, won the French and hoped for a misstep by Croatia in Austria.
For the already eliminated winner of the previous edition France and Austria, only the prevention of relegation from division A was at stake.
Faster Fast
Croatia is already sitting on roses in Vienna after more than five minutes. Luka Modric was cleared by Nikola Vlasic on the edge of the Austrian penalty area and the Real Madrid midfielder hit the short corner. The joy about the fast short on the Croatian side. Marcel Sabitzer put the ball in the ninth minute and Christoph Baumgartner made a beautiful header. The VAR looked at it, but let the equalizer stand.
Austria was then the dominant party, but attacker Marko Arnautovic did not have his sights sharp before half-time in his 104th international match. On the stroke of rust, he missed an excellent chance to make it 2-1.
Headers decide duel
After the break, the Croats also suffered from the stiff Austrians for a while, but Marko Ivaja broke the spell. After seventy minutes, he headed the ball into the far corner from a cross by Ivan Perisic. Three minutes later, the game was decided with a second header. That came from Dejan Lovren who was able to head in completely uncovered: 1-3.
Denmark has nothing to win over France
Denmark needed a while to get going against the already eliminated French, who, despite missing the injured attacker Karim Benzema with Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann, still had a world-class attack.
Finally another hit Dolberg
Christian Eriksen, now the designer of Manchester United, found the opening. After 34 minutes he has Mikkel Damsgaard, who found the foot of Kasper Dolberg with a cross. The former striker of Ajax, who had not found the net for Denmark since the quarterfinals of Euro2020, slipped the ball in. Five minutes later, the Danes doubled the margin. Andreas Skov Olsen volleyed in from a corner: 2-0.
France had plenty of opportunities, but lacked the effectiveness of the Danes in the front. The French also have good opportunities untapped in the second interests. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel had escaped but the ball hit the keeper’s foot.
Despite the defeat, France was spared relegation to Division B. Austria makes a return in the next edition.