The Welsh national team overcame its deficit against its Norwegian guest to win 2-1, Thursday, in Cardiff, in the third round of the first-level Group D competitions in the European Nations League.
Norway entered the match strongly, and succeeded in opening the scoring early through Oscar Pope in the 11th minute, after a distinguished joint play with captain Martin Odegaard, who passed him the ball inside the penalty area and he shot it into the net.
Wales tried to respond quickly, and almost equalized in the 17th minute when Sorba Thomas sent a cross ball towards Daniel James inside the area, but David Mueller-Wolf intervened at the last minute and removed the danger.
Before the end of the first half, the hosts took advantage of a mistake in the build-up of the Norwegian team, and Thomas passed a cross that reached Daniel James, who followed it into the net, equalizing in the 38th minute.
Norway's task was complicated immediately after the start of the second half, after Torbjörn Hegem was sent off in the 46th minute, after he obstructed Daniel James when he was in the position of the last defender.
Wales quickly took advantage of the numerical disadvantage, as Neco Williams successfully executed the resulting free kick, scoring the lead and winning goal in the 48th minute.
Despite playing with ten players, Norway tried to get back in the score and created some chances, most notably a long shot from Jørgen Larsen in the 88th minute that went past the top corner of the Welsh goal.
The Norwegian team, led by Erling Haaland, was unable to achieve a draw, suffering its second loss in the group after losing to Portugal 1-2, last Sunday.
After three rounds, Norway's score froze at 3 points, on par with Wales, which revived its chances with this win.
The Irish national team tied with its Austrian guest 2-2, on Thursday, in the third group competitions in the second level of the European Nations League, in a match that witnessed a short halt due to protests against the Irish national team’s decision to play its next match against Israel.
Ireland was leading 1-0 amid a large crowd at the Aviva Stadium, when the referee stopped the match in the 20th minute, after protesters threw a number of tennis balls bearing the Palestinian flag onto the field from the stands behind the goals.
Play was stopped for more than two minutes, before the match resumed, while a man wearing the Palestinian flag tried to enter the field later in the first half, before security personnel removed him.
The “Stop the Match” campaign announced the end of its protest during the match, and described what happened as a symbolic and limited move in solidarity with national team goalkeeper Gavin Bazuno and the Palestinian people.
Bazuno had withdrawn from the Ireland squad on the eve of the 3-0 victory over Israel, last Sunday, in a match held in Hungary, after the players took two votes and the majority chose to play the match.
On the technical level, Troy Parrott gave the Irish team the lead in the 12th minute, after he bypassed three defenders and penetrated into the penalty area before shooting a low ball into the far corner.
Parrott returned to add the second goal from a penalty kick before the end of the first half, but Austria succeeded in returning during the second half through substitutes Alexander Bras and Michael Gregoritsch, so the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Bazunu returned to the national team roster and sat on the bench against Austria, but he will not participate in the match against Israel, next Sunday, which the Irish Federation moved to Serbia, where it will be held without an audience in the city of Bačka Topola.
Members of the Irish Football Association voted in November to ask the UEFA Board of Directors to suspend Israel’s participation in European competitions, before adopting a proposal in July supporting the continuation of competitions.
Ireland's friendly match against Qatar at the Aviva Stadium was previously stopped twice during the first half last May due to a similar protest.
The Dutch national team and its new Spanish coach, Xavi Hernandez, survived a loss against its Greek host, after coming back from a two-goal deficit and snatching a valuable 2-2 draw, on Thursday, in the third round of the European Nations League.
Greece maintained its lead in Group Two of the first level with 7 points, while Germany ranks third with 4 points.
Greece seemed on its way to achieving its third victory in a row after establishing its advantage in the first half. Christos Tsoulis scored an early goal in the 13th minute, but it was ruled out for offside, before the player suffered an injury and left the field five minutes later, with Giorgos Masouras taking his place.
Masouras quickly left his mark, after creating the first goal with a header pass to Fotis Ioannidis, who opened the scoring in the 23rd minute.
Before the end of the first half, Ioannidis returned the gift to Masouras and assisted him with the second goal, as Greece entered the break with a 2-0 lead.
But the Dutch team returned strongly in the second half, and its captain Virgil van Dijk reduced the difference with a header in the 59th minute, following a corner kick taken by Joey Firman.
While Greece was minutes away from claiming the three points, Tijani Reynders snatched the equalizer for the Netherlands in the 89th minute, saving his country and its coach Xavi Hernandez from the first loss in his third match at the helm of the coaching staff.
