Dramatic night closes Nations League group stage

Germany rounded off its Nations League group stage campaign with a 1-1 draw in Hungary after a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty in the 99th minute rescued a point for the host, while the Netherlands was held to the same scoreline by Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There was little to play for in Group A3 going into the final day. The Germans had already wrapped up top spot. The Dutch were secure in second and Hungary sat four points ahead of the already-relegated Bosnia.

"With a win, we would've gone into the break with a nicer feeling, but we can still be very satisfied about what we achieved in 2024 and can kick things off again in March," said German midfielder Robert Andrich.

In Group B4, a 4-1 victory for Wales against Iceland ensured automatic promotion to the top division at the expense of Turkiye, which went down 3-1 in Montenegro.

Czech Republic booked top spot in Group B1 with a 2-1 win over Georgia. Ukraine leapfrogged the Georgians into second place by downing Albania.

In Budapest, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann rang the changes with his team having confirmed top spot last week with a 7-0 thumping of Bosnia.

It was Felix Nmecha who broke the goalless stalemate when he prodded home from inside the six-yard box with 14 minutes of the match remaining.

Germany seemed set to close out its fifth win in six outings until the seventh minute of injury time.

VAR decided that Robin Koch had committed a handball in the box and Hungarian captain Szoboszlai stepped up two minutes later to dink home from 12 yards.

"It's been a real rollercoaster of a year, but I believe that, with this match, we can go into 2025 in good spirits," said Szoboszlai.

The Netherlands finished five points behind its historic rival, as it was held to a draw in Zenica.

Brian Brobbey headed in the opener for Ronald Koeman's side midway through the first period, but, despite dominating the rest of the half, the Dutch were unable to double their lead.

The Oranje were made to pay in the 67th minute when Hamburgborn Bosnian attacker Ermedin Demirovic adjusted his body magnificently to nod a rebound over goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

"I'm not satisfied with a point. I think we had to win," said Koeman.

Wales 'really happy'

Wales bounced back from an early Andri Gudjohnsen goal in Cardiff to put four past Iceland and jump into first place in Group B4.

"It's something we set out to do," Wales' Liam Cullen told Welsh broadcaster S4C.

"We knew we couldn't control what was going on in the Turkiye game, but we really wanted to put our stamp on this game and win convincingly, so really happy that we've done that."

Swansea City striker Cullen scored a double to put the host in front by halftime, before Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson put the gloss on the win inside the final half-hour.

Wales needed victory to have any chance of obtaining automatic promotion to League A, but it also needed an unlikely Montenegro upset of Turkiye to guarantee top spot with a one-point buffer.

The soccer gods smiled on the Dragons, as Nikola Krstovic's hat-trick in Niksic condemned Turkiye to the playoffs and allowed Montenegro to pick up its first points of the campaign after five consecutive defeats.

Two 2-1 wins flipped Group B1 on its head after three points had separated the four teams going into the final round.

Ukraine was fourth before its trip to Tirana, but two goals in the first 10 minutes from Oleksandr Zinchenko and Roman Yaremchuk gave it the perfect start.

A Nedim Bajrami penalty gave Albania hope in the last quarter of an hour, but the Ukrainians held on to claim second spot.

The Czechs had sat top of the group on eight points, and consolidated top spot when first-half strikes by Pavel Sulc and Adam Hlozek were enough to give them a 2-1 home win over Georgia.

In League C, Sweden showcased its striking prowess with a 6-0 thumping of Azerbaijan as it emphatically topped Group C1.

Sweden forward Viktor Gyokeres netted four goals to overtake Erling Haaland as the top scorer in the Nations League.

Gyokeres started the evening with five goals from five games. His third goal of the night in the 58th minute — scored only a few seconds after the game restarted following another Swedish goal — took the Sporting Lisbon forward to eight goals in six games in this edition of the Nations League, one more than Haaland.

Gyokeres — one of the most compelling players in world soccer this season — didn't stop there and added his fourth goal of the game soon after.

Haaland had been the top scorer ahead of the final round of games after the Manchester City striker scored seven goals for Norway, including a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Kazakhstan on Sunday.

AFP