Northern Ireland suffered a second defeat in three Nations League games as their wait for a first win in the competition stretches to 13 games; Portugal and Spain both won to lead the way in League A Group 2
Friday 10 June 2022 06:13, UK
Northern Ireland's long wait for a Nations League win goes on after they were beaten 3-2 in Kosovo, while Spain and Portugal picked up victories in the competition on Thursday.
Northern Ireland have now failed to win any of their 13 Nations League fixtures, losing 10, and they'll be feeling the pressure after another frustrating night in the competition, following the disappointing draw with Cyprus at the weekend.
Hosts Kosovo were deserved winners, though, despite a nervy final few minutes. They took the lead through Vedat Muriqi's penalty nine minutes in after Steven Davis' clumsy foul on Milot Rashica and when Zymer Bytyqi volleyed in a Rashica cross on 19 minutes, the visitors had a mountain to climb.
Northern Ireland hadn't scored in their last three outings but Shayne Lavery got them back into the match on the stroke of half-time with a brave close-range header. However, that hope was extinguished seven minutes into the second half when the impressive Muriqi just stayed onside to convert a fine Kosovo move.
Daniel Ballard did set up a tense finish with his header seven minutes from time but Northern Ireland couldn't find an equaliser and the result leaves them third in League C Group 2 with just one point, eight points behind table-toppers Greece, who beat Cyprus 3-0.
Northern Ireland head coach Ian Baraclough: "Take [Steven Davis] and [Jonny Evans] and Kyle Lafferty out and there's not too many caps among that team there. Fellas who are very inexperienced at this level and they've got to learn quickly. You're asking them to do that.
"We knew how difficult tonight was. [Kosovo are] a settled side for the last three or four years with good players playing at a really high level and it was a good test for us. We've gone and matched them, created double-figures chances and that bodes well for the future.
"This is a building plan, this is a plan going forward for the bigger picture and more performances like that will get results."
Meanwhile, in League A Group 2 Joao Cancelo and Goncalo Guedes were on target in Portugal's comfortable 2-0 win over Czech Republic.
The victory means Portugal remain two points above Spain, who moved up to second spot in that pool thanks to Pablo Sarabia's first-half strike in a 1-0 win away to Switzerland. Spain had drawn their first two games of this edition of the Nations League after reaching the final last time around.
There was no breakthrough in Norway's 0-0 draw with Slovenia, though, despite the visitors in Oslo being reduced to 10 men on 63 minutes when Miha Blazic fouled Erling Haaland with a last-man tackle. Martin Odegaard hit the bar with the resulting free-kick but there was to be no way past an impressive Jan Oblak.
Norway remain top of League B Group 4, a point ahead of Serbia who held on to beat Sweden 1-0 thanks to Luka Jovic's strike and maintain their own push for qualification to League A.
Further down the standings, Georgia kept in the hunt for promotion with a 3-0 win over second-placed North Macedonia in League C Group 4, where Gibraltar also took a point off Bulgaria with a 1-1 draw.
And in League D Group 2, Estonia picked up their second win in a row thanks to a 94th-minute strike from Henri Anier away to Malta, which grabbed a 2-1 victory.
