Preparations for the European Championship are slowly heating up, and tonight Serbia, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland and Romania had their first test matches.
The unconvincing games that have followed Serbia since the World Cup in Qatar continued in the penultimate test before Euro 2024 - Dragan Stojković's team was defeated by another participant of the continental championship, Austria.
In Vienna, it was 2:1, and the host reached the victory at "Ernst Hapel" in three minutes (in the 10th and 13th) when the Austrians easily "opened" the defense of the "eagles", and Patrick Wimmer and Christoph Baumgartner scored for 2 :0.
Ralf Ragnik's boys are obviously already ready for the tournament in Germany, while Serbia somewhat improved the impression by the end of the game thanks to the goal of Strahinja Pavlović.
Of the former Yugoslav republics that will play at the Euros, Croatia won last night, and today it was also done by Slovenia, who will play against Serbia at the European Championship.
"Zmajček" welcomed Armenia at "Stožice" and celebrated with 2:1.
Matjaž Kek's team led with a goal by Jan Mlakar, Varazdat Harojan equalized, and for the umpteenth time, the eternal Josip Iličić showed his class with a masterful goal for Slovenia's victory.
An interesting duel was expected in Bologna, but in the end both Italy and Turkey remained indebted to the fans at "Dal'Ara" - 0:0.
Vincenzo Montela knew well how to defend against his compatriots, while Luciano Spalletti and the Azzurri reminded Italy a bit tonight, which struggled in the World Cup qualifiers in Qatar and for this European Championship.
In any case, the Turks are more satisfied, who will be Montenegro's rivals in the League of Nations from September, and who have shown that they will have something to say in Germany in a group with Portugal, Georgia and the Czech Republic...
The Swiss warmed up against Estonia (4:0) with goals from Steven Cuber, Zeki Amduni, Niko Elvedi and Xherdan Shaqiri, Portugal defeated Finland 4:2 on the wings of Ruben Dias, Diogo Jota and Bruno Fernandes (two goals), while the defeat entered by Hungary.
Better than Dominik Soboslai and company was Ireland (2:1) - The islanders led with a goal by Celtic's master Adam Ajda, Adam Lang equalized, and Troy Parrott brought victory to the home team in the 92nd minute.
Tomorrow, Belgium will prepare for the Euro against Montenegro, and its rival in the continental championship group, Romania, played against Bulgaria tonight.
There were no goals in the clash between the neighbors, and the Romanians managed to miss a penalty - in the 51st minute, Denis Mann was not accurate from the penalty spot.
Bonus video:
