The 2024 European Championship qualifying tournament began on March 23; two star forwards set new benchmarks on the opening night. It was Ronaldo’s 197th international cap, and he was nominated to the Portugal team after Harry Kane scored a penalty to become England’s all-time greatest scorer with 54 goals.
In other news, England defeated Italy 2-1 in Naples, the Three Lions’ first victory against the Gli Azzurri in 61 years, and Roberto Mancini’s squad’s first European qualifying defeat in 41 games.
With Fernando Santos no longer in charge, Martinez and Ronaldo had a relatively easy matchup against the 198th-ranked Liechtenstein to get back on track after their semi-final loss to Morocco. Against a lower-ranked opponent, the Qatar 2022 semi-finalists won 4-0, with Ronaldo scoring twice to bring his career total to 120 goals.
In the eighth minute, Joao Cancelo scored, but that was as good as it got in the first half. Two minutes into the second half, Bernardo Silva scored again. Then, Ronaldo took control, netting a penalty kick in the 51st minute and a free kick in the 63rd to seal a resounding victory.
As Luke Shaw was shown two quick yellow cards, England’s match versus Italy was played out with 10 men. The first was given in the 78th minute by Serbian referee Srdan Jovanovic for wasting time on a throw-in, and Shaw received a second two minutes later for a clear foul to halt an Italy advance.
In the 13th minute, after Kane’s attempt was blocked by a defender, Declan Rice scored England’s first goal from within the box. After Kane’s historic penalty kick in the 44th minute, the Three Lions could have added a third goal a minute later, but Jack Grealish missed from off-target.
In the 56th minute, Mateo Retegui scored his first international goal for Italy after finishing off a feed from Lorenzo Pellegrini and putting it past Jordan Pickford.
Despite Roberto Mancini subbing on Matteo Politano, Bryan Cristante, Wilfried Gnonto, Sandro Tonali, and Gianluca Scamacca with two minutes remaining, Italy continued to apply pressure to the England goal without creating as many goal-scoring opportunities as they had hoped. A morale-boosting victory for England after the referee added five more minutes.
After breaking Wayne Rooney’s record, Kane spoke about the feelings that he experienced. I knew how much that meant to Wayne [Rooney] and it made me very pleased to be on the field when he broke the record. When I awarded him the boot for setting a new record, he promised to return it to me someday. The man is unique, and he will go down in history as one of England’s all-time greats.
Final Score:
Kazakhstan 2, USA 1. Slovenia
England beat Italy 3-2.
NM wins, 2-1, against MT
Score: Denmark 3, Finland 1.
Northern Ireland beat San Marino 2 goals to 0.
Liechtenstein 0, Portugal 4.
Slovak Republic: 0; Luxembourg: 0
Iceland beats Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0.
