With around half of the European qualifying games being played in the last four days we look at five players who shone in this qualifying round.
Eran Zahavi- Israel
31- year old Eran Zahavi scored a hat-trick against Austria to secure Israel a 4-2 win and send them to second place in the table; just two points behind Poland in Group G. The striker, who plays for Chinese side Guangzhou R and F, also scored his side’s goal in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Slovenia meaning that he has four goals in two games so far.
Daniel James- Wales
🎥 | 🏴 1-0 🇸🇰 | REPLAY
😍😍😍#WALSVK
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) March 24, 2019
Swansea winger Daniel James has had his broke through season this year, staring for the Swans and being linked with a move to Leeds United in January. This form saw him earn a call up to the Wales squad in November; and on Sunday he marked his home debut for the Dragons with a goal against Slovakia after five minutes. The goal proved to be the winner, giving Ryan Giggs the dream start to the qualification campaign.
Eljif Elmas- Macedonia
On Thursday Macedonia’s campaign got off to the dream start with a 3-1 win over Latvia. The star of the show was Fenerbache winger Eljif Elmas who came off the bench and scored twice to help his side to victory. That performance earned Elmas a start against Slovenia on Sunday in a 1-1 draw.
Pieros Soteriou- Cyprus
Cyprus have a massive task on their hands to qualify for their first major tournament, as they have Belgium in Group I to contest with, losing 2-0 last night to the Red Devils. However, on Thursday they got off to a dream start with a 5-0 win over minnows San Marino; with Pieros Soteriou scoring twice.
Mate Patkai- Hungary
One of the results of the round of fixtures was Hungary, who are ranked 52ndin the world rankings, beating World cup finalists Croatia. Ante Rebic had given Croatia the lead, before Adam Szalai equalised. This set it up for Patkai to strike and secure a famous victory for his country.
