IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - UEFA 2024 QUALIFIERS
Picture :Granit Xhaka became the Swiss international with the most caps in history (119) after taking part in the qualifier vs Israel (1-1). He surpassed ex-record holder Heinz Hermann (118).
Statistics on Euro 2024 qualifiers of 15-18 October
*Cristiano Ronaldo, after a win over Liechtenstein (2-0), is experiencing his longest winning streak with Portugal (8 in a row).
*Very oddly, England had zero shots on target and just 2 shots overall in the first half at home vs Malta (!). I was the first England home game without a single shot on target in the first half since November 2017 (a friendly vs Germany).
*San Marino (1-3 vs Kazakhstan) have scored in two consecutive qualifiers (Euro or World Cup), taking into account also their previous game vs Denmark (1-2), just for the 2nd time in their history.
It was only happened before in 2005 ( a 2-match scoring run in March-June 2005 (vs Belgium 1-2 and vs Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-3).
*Spain are the only European team to pass the last 16 qualifying campaigns for major tournaments (in 14 of the 16 occasions, as the group winner).
Germany have also been in all those 16 tournaments, but only played 13 qualifying tournaments (being 1 time classified as current champion and 2 times as hosting nation).
*The youngest player in the history of the Spanish team (Lamine Yamal) and the oldest (Jesús Navas) coincided on the pitch in the game vs Cyprus (3-1). The age difference between the two (21 years 234 days) is naturally the largest ever age span between two Spanish internationals recorded in the same game.
*Italy, beating North Macedonia 5-2 (and Malta 4-0 before that), have scored 4+ goals in two competitive home matches in a row for the first time in 20 years, since 2003 (vs Wales 4-0 and vs Azerbaijan 4-0).
*Matteo Darmian scored a goal for Italy (vs North Macedonia) 8 years 38 days after his previous one. Only one in the history of Italy national team, Fabio Quagliarella, had a longer gap between two successive goals (8 years 129 days).
*Granit Xhaka became the Swiss international with the most caps in history (119) after taking part in the qualifier vs Israel (1-1). He surpassed ex-record holder Heinz Hermann (118).