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France registered a 2-0 win over Ireland while the Netherlands got their campaign back on track after a 3-0 win over Greece in the Euro 2024 Qualifiers on Thursday night.
France reached to the top of the points table of their Group B with 15 points, winning all their five matches. This win over Ireland had goals from Aurelien Tchouameni (19th minute) and Marcus Thuram (48th minute). On the other hand, the Netherlands is in the second spot, with two wins and a loss in three matches, which translates to six points. Goals came from Marten de Roon (17th minute), Liverpool's Cody Gakpo (31st minute) and on-loan Burnley striker Wout Weghorst (39th minute). In the Group E, Albania (seven points) kept their challenge alive with a 1-1 draw against group toppers Czech Republic (eight points). Czech had taken the lead with a 56th minute strike from Vaclav Cerny but Nedim Bajrami equalised 10 minutes later. In other Group E match, Poland (six points and at number three) beat Faroe Islands (one points and at bottom spot) 2-0. Robert Lewandawski scored a brace for Poland, first a penalty strike in the 73rd minute, then another goal in the 83rd minute. Hungary beat Serbia 2-1 in their Group G match, coming back from behind. Hungary (10 points at the top) came from behind to beat Serbia (seven points in second position) 2-1 and open up a three-point cushion at the top of Group G. The side recovered from an own goal by Atila Szalai with quick first-half strikes from Barnabas Varga and Willi Orban. Lithuania (2 points and at the fourth spot) played out a 2-2 draw against Montenegro (four points and at the third spot) and ruined the latter's chances at qualifying, with a Nikola Krstovic (71st minute) strike and Stefan Savic (89th minute) goal helping Lithuania take lead but Fedor Cernych levelled the scores with a late strike in stoppage time. Denmark (10 points and at the second spot) star Christian Eriksen delivered an all-round masterclass as he scored a goal and helped in two more as his side cruised to win over San Marino (At the bottom with no points) by 4-0 in their Group H qualifier. Euro 2024 will take place next year from June to July. The qualifier process is ongoing through which the rest of the 23 participants other than automatically qualified hosts in Germany will be determined. There are 10 groups of five teams each, from which the top two per group will qualify. Three more teams will be confirmed via playoffs from March 2024. (ANI)
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