GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — Georgia pulled off one of the biggest upsets in European Championship history on Wednesday, beating Portugal 2-0 and advancing to the last 16.
The Georgians needed a win to reach the knockout stage at Euro 2024 and got their opening goal after only 93 seconds. Georges Mikautadze intercepted a poor pass and set up Khvicha Kvaratskelia to score with a low shot.
António Silva gave away the ball before the first goal and gave away a penalty for the second, tripping Luka Lochoshvili inside the penalty area. Georges Mikautadze hit the spot kick low and past Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 57th minute.
“We can fight against everyone,” Kvaratskhelia said. “I’m so proud.”
Georgia advanced in its debut at a major tournament as one of the best third-place teams. Portugal had already qualified from Group F after winning its first two games.
The Georgians will next face Spain on Sunday in Cologne, while Portugal plays Slovenia on Monday in Frankfurt.
Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo, who felt he deserved a penalty in the first half, kicked away a water bottle when he was substituted in the 66th minute.
Ronaldo was given a yellow card for his protests after his penalty appeal was turned down. He wanted the decision after his shirt was pulled in the area by Lochoshvili as a cross came in. No foul was given.
With Portugal already qualified, Ronaldo was one of only three players kept in the lineup from the previous 3-0 win over Turkey, along with Costa and midfielder João Palhinha.
Portugal created little in the second half as Georgia’s defense sat deep, but the 2016 champions had chances in added time. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili kept Georgia’s two-goal lead intact with saves from Nélson Semedo and Diogo Dalot, while Francisco Conceição narrowly missed the target.
At the final whistle, Georgia’s players sprinted off the bench to embrace Mamardashvili in a huddle and leapt with joy in front of their raucous fans.
Turkey beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the other group match. The Turks also advanced while the Czechs were eliminated.
Georgia’s victory also eliminated Hungary, which finished third in Group A.
Turkey 2, Czech Republic 1
Cenk Tosun finally ended the tension when he scored in stoppage time to send Turkey into the knockout stage of the European Championship with a win over 10-man Czech Republic on Wednesday in Hamburg, Germany.
With the Czechs chasing a goal that would have put them through at Turkey’s expense, Tosun, a substitute, eluded two exhausted defenders on the left and fired a fierce shot inside the far post.
It set off a wave of celebrations among most of the fans in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion, though it also led to a flare-up between players and substitutes who had run onto the field. Czech forward Tomas Chory was shown a red card after the tumult, and team captain Tomas Soucek and Turkey’s Arda Guler were both shown yellow.
It had been a busy night for Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs, who sent off Czech midfielder Antonin Barak in the 20th minute. Barak earned his first yellow card for a tactical foul in the 11th, then the next for a stamp on Salih Ozcan’s foot.
It encouraged Turkey to attack in waves. Kenan Yildiz, Hakan Calhanoglu and Guler were causing serious problems for the Czech defense.
The Czech attack was without star player Patrik Schick, who failed to recover from a calf muscle injury. Schick was booked for protesting on the bench. It was to be his only contribution.
Calhanoglu broke the deadlock with a low shot inside the far post in the 51st. Czech goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek had made a brilliant save to deny Mert Muldur but wasn’t able to stretch for Calhanoglu’s powerful strike.
Stanek was unable to continue with an apparent shoulder injury from his initial save. Bayer Leverkusen reserve goalkeeper Matej Kovar went on in his place.
Soucek equalized in the 66th after a goalmouth scramble in which the ball was cleared off the line. A VAR check confirmed goalkeeper Mert Gunok was not unfairly hindered.
The Czechs needed another goal to progress, but Tosun’s late strike ended their hopes.
The Czech Republic finished bottom of Group F behind Georgia, which surprised group winner Portugal with a 2-0 win to progress as one of the best third-place teams.
Turkey finished runner-up with six points.
Romania 1, Slovakia 1
Romania coach Edward Iordănescu felt insulted by that pre-game chatter of possibly contriving a low-key draw against Slovakia to send both teams into the European Championship knockout round.
It did indeed end 1-1 in Frankfurt, Germany, and Romania finished atop of Group E — ahead of favored Belgium — but not in the way those pundits throwing shade had predicted.
And Iordănescu let them know about it after a high-energy game played in severe weather which had wild mood swings.
“There is some people that should apologize to us,” Iordănescu said, calling some of the commentary earlier in the week “shameful.”
“They throw this garbage to us, not just the team but our fans. We showed our character,” the Romanian coach said, in the only answer in English of his news conference.
The quirk of the 24-team Euros format is that Groups E and F playing on the final day of the group stage have an advantage. They know the result they need to be assured of being among the four best third-place teams who must advance to the last-16 bracket.
At the start of play Wednesday, all four teams were on three points before Romania and Slovakia drew in Frankfurt at the same time as Belgium was held 0-0 by Ukraine, which was eliminated.
Romania topped the group on the tiebreaker of more goals scored than Belgium, and both had a better goal difference than third-place Slovakia.
“Nobody could say my team didn’t play to win for the 90 minutes,” Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona said.
Both Iordănescu and Calzona were right to feel vindicated one day after questions at pre-game news conferences about the option of a contrive a low-energy draw to get the point both needed.
Both teams went for goals despite stifling heat in the first half that ended 1-1.
They really went for more goals through sheets of rain amid booming thunderclaps midway through the second half.
The fans, especially yellow-shirted Romanians filling two thirds of the Frankfurt arena, seemed energized by soccer in the crackling electric storm.
The teams still were chasing a game-winning goal in the steady rain until stoppage time before it ended 1-1.Slovakia’s standout player Stanislav Lobotka, a midfielder with Napoli, said he never experienced such in-game weather in his career.
“Heat and the very hard ground at the beginning and within 45 minutes the weather changed completely, with pools of water at some parts of the pitch,” Lobotka said.
Slovakia led in the 24th minute when Ondrej Duda directed a powerful header down into the corner of the net.Răzvan Marin leveled in the 37th from a penalty awarded after a two-minute video review to decide if Ianis Hagi was tripped inside the area.
Romania will now play in the knockout round for the first time since Euro 2000 when Hagi’s father, national soccer icon Gheorghe, was captain in the No. 10 jersey now worn by his son.
Romania’s reward is going into what shapes as the weaker half of the knockout bracket, separated until the final from in-form Spain and Portugal plus France and Germany.
Next for Romania is playing a third-place team in Munich with a five full days’ rest before that game Tuesday.
Belgium plays France in a standout pairing Monday in Duesseldorf. Slovakia could face Spain on Sunday in Cologne.
When the soccer anthem “Freed From Desire” played after the final whistle, both sets of fans were singing and jumping in celebration with the players. Romanian fans far outnumbered the Slovaks.
“I think never in the history of Romania has the team had such a support, not even the golden generation (of Hagi),” Iordănescu said. “Romania has found its spirit that it mustn’t ever lose again.”
Belgium 0, Ukraine 0
Belgium got the best out of a scoreless draw at the European Championship in Stuttgart, Germany, advancing to the last 16 while Ukraine became the first team with four points in a group to be eliminated.
The downside for the Belgians at Euro 2024 is they will next face France and Kylian Mbappe on Monday in Duesseldorf.
“We go to win. We are here and qualified for this Euro to be part of the best teams. Now, we face a top team,” Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco said. “That’s why we qualified, otherwise we could stay at home. These are the games we’re looking for, and everything is possible.”
All four teams in Group E finished with four points. Romania ended up first, followed by Belgium and Slovakia. Ukraine was last on goal difference.
Playing at Euro 2024 against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine came agonizingly close to advancing and will finish with more points than at least one of the four best third-place teams. The 3-0 loss to Romania in the team’s opening game proved to be decisive.
“In the last two games, we showed the character of our nation. But this is life, you make some mistakes, but then it’s important how you react,” Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov said. “I’m very proud of the players. Of course, everyone is unhappy with the result, but there are no questions for the players.”
There was nearly a different ending when Ukraine substitute Ruslan Malinovskyi tried to score directly from corner late in the match. Belgium goalkeeper Koen Casteels managed to save the effort at the near post.
The third-ranked Belgians had another scare when Georgiy Sudakov ran into the box but shot right at Casteels.
Belgium, which lost to Slovakia in its opening game, struggled to get its offense going again with Romelu Lukaku failing to make the most of his team’s best chance in the first half.
The Belgian fans booed their players at the end of the game at Stuttgart Arena, while Ukrainian supporters, who earlier held up a banner of a fallen soldier named Nazariy Hryntsevich, showed their appreciation to the national team.
“We wanted to bring them joy, to make them proud. We left it all on the field, but it wasn’t enough,” Ukraine defender Oleksandr Tymchyk said.
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Belgium will likely need to improve against France, which was the runner-up at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
While the French have also been unconvincing, Belgium was expected to advance with ease from a group without any of the traditional European soccer powerhouses.
“This group was tougher than many thought,” Tedesco said. “On paper, you can be favorites, but you have to play the games and these teams have absolutely nothing to lose.”
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