Scotland concluded a successful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with an all-action 3-3 draw with Norway at Hampden Park.
Steve Clarke’s men clinched their place in Germany with two games to spare last month and, following a 2-2 draw with Georgia on Thursday night, there were thrills and spills in the final Group A game in Glasgow.
The Tartan Army were in party mood but they were silenced in the third minute of a roller-coaster first half when Aron Donnum fired the visitors ahead before Scotland captain John McGinn levelled from the spot 10 minutes later.
Norway restored their lead through striker Jorgen Larsen in the 20th minute before an own goal in the 33rd minute by visiting defender Leo Ostigard had the Scots level again.
The second half was no less open and a fine finish by midfielder Stuart Armstrong just before the hour mark put the home side ahead but Norway substitute Mohamed Elyounoussi cancelled that out in the 86th minute with a header.
Nevertheless it is Scotland and group winners Spain who qualify automatically for next summer’s finals and the Scots will go into the draw as Pot 3 seeds.
It was another thrilling match in an unforgettable campaign.
Clarke reshuffled his side, with Luton striker Jacob Brown making his first start in his eighth appearance as Jack Hendry, Armstrong and Kenny McLean also came in. Ryan Porteous, Billy Gilmour, Ryan Christie and Lyndon Dykes dropped to the bench.
Stale Solbakken’s side were without injured Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland, their captain and Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard and Sevilla goalkeeper Orjan Nyland, which on the face of it increased the home side’s chance of finishing the campaign with a flourish.
The visitors, however, were keen to avenge the 2-1 defeat by Scotland in Oslo which had done so much to shape both sides’ fortunes and they got off to the perfect start.
A cross into the middle from Julian Ryerson came off the foot of Larsen straight to Donnum, whose shot from 14 yards clipped Scotland defender Nathan Patterson before going past keeper Zander Clark and in off a post.
The goal stunned the home fans but they were soon cheering when referee Horatiu Fesnic pointed to the spot after judging that Callum McGregor’s shot had struck the arm of Donnum inside the box.
McGinn slotted the penalty past Norway keeper Egil Selvik for his third goal of the campaign and his 18th international goal in total to tie with former Scotland striker Kenny Miller.
However, Scotland were again trailing when Larsen got a flick on Ryerson’s deflected cross at the near post and the ball squirmed past Clark and spun over the line with the on-rushing Donnum making sure.
The goals kept coming and the home side were level again when Scott McTominay’s whipped-in corner from the left was just missed by McLean, with the ball striking the luckless Ostigard and bouncing into the net.
Norway remained dangerous and in the 37th minute captain Patrick Berg came close with a 30-yard free-kick and minutes later only a brilliant block by Patterson denied Donnum a second goal, before Armstrong came close with a drive in the last action of the first half.
The end-to-end action continued after the break.
Brown missed a good chance from right in front of goal but only seconds before Armstrong drilled McGinn’s cut-back into the net from 16 yards, after playing a one-two with his fellow midfielder.
Dykes, Christie and Lewis Ferguson soon came on for Brown, Armstrong and McLean and then Ryan Jack replaced McGinn, who had taken a knock.
By then Norway were going all out for their third goal and in the 82nd minute Clark made a good diving save from substitute Kristian Thorstvedt’s header from close range.
Former Celtic attacker Elyounoussi made no mistake when burying a Ryerson cross from two yards out, however.
The Tartan Army showed their appreciation at the end of five added minutes and now all eyes are on Germany next summer.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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