On Thursday, qualifying for the European Championship in 2024 commenced, and it was a record-breaking night for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane. Ronaldo, the leading scorer in men’s international soccer, made history by racking up his 197th international appearance for Portugal in their 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, surpassing any other male player’s record. He marked the occasion by converting a penalty and adding another second-half goal, taking his international tally to 120 goals. Kane, on the other hand, became England’s leading scorer of all time by netting a first-half penalty in a 2-1 win at Italy, taking his tally to 54 goals, one more than Wayne Rooney.
England’s win over Italy in Naples was a repeat of the Euro 2020 final, which the Azzurri won at Wembley Stadium. It was a belated revenge for England as they held on to win after first-half goals by Declan Rice and Kane. Mateo Retegui, an Argentina-born forward with Italian citizenship through his maternal grandmother, scored on his debut for Italy. England played with ten men from the 80th minute after left-back Luke Shaw collected two yellow cards in 54 seconds, but Italy failed to capitalize on the advantage. North Macedonia beat Malta 2-1 in the other match in Group C, which also contains Ukraine.
Portugal also enjoyed a comfortable start to their latest qualifying campaign as Roberto Martinez marked his first game as the Portuguese coach. Ronaldo was selected up front alongside Joao Felix, and both players contributed to the 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein. Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva scored before Ronaldo’s double in Lisbon. In Group J, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Iceland 3-0, while Slovakia and Luxembourg drew 0-0.
Denmark and Finland met for their opening Group H qualifier at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the same venue where Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen collapsed with cardiac arrest during Euro 2020. Nearly two years later, Denmark won 3-1, thanks to a hat trick from striker Rasmus Hojlund in his first start for his country. Slovenia beat Kazakhstan 2-1, and Northern Ireland defeated San Marino 2-0 in the other matches in Group H.
Finally, for the first time since the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia played a soccer match against a nation from outside the borders of the old Soviet Union. In Tehran, they played out a 1-1 draw with Iran in front of 78,000 spectators. Both goals came from the penalty spot, with Iran’s Mehdi Taremi cancelling out Anton Miranchuk’s opener. UEFA has banned Russia from competing in qualifying for Euro 2024, so they played with an entirely Russia-based squad. Previously, they played Kyrgyzstan, winning 2-1, along with 0-0 draws against Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
