Germany wins; Jürgen Klopp’s first victory as head coach. Rejinders saves the Netherlands in Greece; Haaland falls short in Wales

Jürgen Klopp’s first victory as Germany’s head coach came in his third match: in Group 2 of League A, the Mannschaft shook off the ghosts of last weekend by defeating Serbia 2-0; Serbia remains at the bottom of the group with zero points. Goals by Tom Bischof in the 39th minute and Florian Wirtz in the 61st minute proved decisive, while on the other side, former AC Milan player Luka Jovic—the Balkan nation’s key offensive threat—failed to score.

However, the surprising Greek team still leads the group; against the Netherlands, they came close to a victory that would have practically sealed their qualification for the quarterfinals: The Greek national team, leading 2-0 thanks to goals by Fotis Ioannidis in the 23rd minute and Georgios Masouras in the 47th minute of the first half, but were pegged back in the second half by goals from Virgil van Dijk in the 59th minute and former Milan player Tijjani Reijnders in the 89th minute, allowing the Oranje to remain unbeaten and climb to 5 points—two behind the Greeks and one ahead of the Germans.

Also in League A, in Group 4, Portugal put Cristiano Ronaldo behind them and defeated Denmark 4-2 on the road (scorers for Portugal were João Cancelo in the 13th minute, Gonçalo Ramos in the 25th minute, Vitinha in the 67th minute, and João Félix in the 87th minute, while the Danish goals came from Damsgaard in the 23rd minute and Hojlund in the 53rd minute).

In the other match, Wales surprised Norway with a 2-1 victory; Bobb’s goal in the 11th minute wasn’t enough for the visitors, who first allowed the equalizer in the 38th minute (scored by Daniel James) and then were reduced to ten men early in the second half after Heggem was sent off with a straight red card. Neco Williams scored the winning goal in the 58th minute. In the standings, only Portugal is smiling with 9 points, while Denmark, Norway, and Wales finish the first half of the season with three points apiece and a decidedly uncertain position regarding their survival in League A.

Also in action on Thursday evening were League B and League D: In Group 3 of the second division, Ireland drew 2-2 with Austria (a brace by Parrott with goals in the 12th and 45th minutes, Prass in the 71st minute and Grigoritsch in the 77th minute for the visitors), while Israel and Kosovo played to a 0-0 draw on neutral ground in Debrecen, Hungary. Standings: Austria 7, Kosovo and Ireland 4, Israel 1.

There were also two draws in the fourth round: Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein played to a 0-0 draw, while Malta and Gibraltar finished 1-1, with Mbong scoring for the home team in the 53rd minute and Scanlon equalizing in the 61st minute. In Group 1, Malta leads with 4 points, followed by Gibraltar with 2 and Andorra with 1, while Lithuania tops Group 2 with 4 points, ahead of Azerbaijan with 2 and Liechtenstein with 1.