Austria seal Euro 2024 place as Belgium-Sweden abandoned
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Austria sealed a place at Euro 2024 on Monday with 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan.
BAKU (Reuters) - Austria sealed a place at Euro 2024 on Monday but Sweden missed out on the finals for the first time in 28 years on a night in which their fixture with Belgium was abandoned at halftime after two Swedish nationals were shot dead in Brussels.
Austria’s 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan, earned via a second half penalty from substitute Marcel Sabitzer following Rahil Mammadov’s handball, was enough to book a ticket for next year's tournament in Germany at the expense of the Swedes.
Sweden's fixture with Belgium was not completed after two people, who local media reported were Swedish supporters, were fatally shot in the vicinity of the stadium.
Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level as a man in a video on social media claimed that he was the assailant and that he was from Islamic State.
With the score at 1-1 at halftime in the Group F game, the Swedes requested that the match be abandoned.
Viktor Gyokeres had put Sweden in front, but Romelu Lukaku equalised from the penalty spot.
Belgium have already booked their place at the finals in Germany next year, while Sweden cannot qualify.
Virgil van Dijk scored a dramatic late penalty for the Netherlands three minutes into added-time to snatch a crucial 1-0 victory over Greece in Athens.
Denzel Dumfries was fouled in the box to give Van Dijk the chance to win the game and Greece coach Gus Poyet later received a red card for his protestations from the sidelines.
It was the second spot kick in the game for the Dutch after striker Wout Weghorst had his penalty saved by goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
France have already qualified from Group B but Netherlands moved into second place with the win on 12 points from six games and with matches to come against lowly Ireland and Gibraltar.
Greece have the same number of points but have played a game more and meet France in their final qualifier next month.
Ireland cruised to a 4-0 win over Gibraltar with goals from teenager Evan Ferguson, Michael Johnston, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson but they were already unable to qualify.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Portugal, who had already qualified from Group I, thumped Bosnia & Herzegovina 5-0 in Zenica. Ronaldo's first goal was a penalty and Bruno Fernandes, Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix also got on the scoresheet.
Slovakia took a giant step towards qualifying for a third successive Euros as they beat Luxembourg 1-0 with a David Duris goal 13 minutes from time in Group J.
That win opened up a five-point gap between second-placed Slovakia and Luxembourg in third with two rounds to play.
Gylfi Sigurdsson scored twice as fourth-placed Iceland defeated Liechtenstein 4-0 in the other match in the group.
