A look at what’s happening in European Championship qualifying on Saturday:
GROUP C
New Italy coach Luciano Spalletti makes his debut when the Azzurri visit North Macedonia. It’s a rematch of the game that North Macedonia shockingly won in Palermo last year to prevent Italy from qualifying for the World Cup. Spalletti, who led Napoli to the Serie A title last season, replaced Roberto Mancini, who unexpectedly left last month and then took over Saudi Arabia’s national team. Spalletti will be without two key players after Federico Chiesa and Lorenzo Pellegrini were injured in training on Friday. The Azzurri have three points from their opening two games to trail England (12 points) and Ukraine (6 points), who meet in Wroclaw, Poland, as Ukraine continues to play its home games abroad due to the war with Russia. England has won all four of its matches so far and routed North Macedonia 7-0 in its last match.
GROUP F
Romelu Lukaku scored an impressive goal while training with Belgium that was shared on social media and now will look to do the same in a visit to Azerbaijan. A win would put Belgium (7 points) atop the group alongside idle Austria (10 points). Lukaku was recently loaned by Chelsea to Roma and made his Serie A debut in the second half of a loss to AC Milan before the international break. With six goals, Lukaku is tied with Denmark’s Rasmus Hojlund for the most over the opening four matches of qualifying. Also, Sweden (3 points) visits Estonia (1 point). Lukaku could start at the front of the attack in Baku despite his lack of playing time. His influence in the squad is such that coach Domenico Tedesco will likely give him a starting nod over Lois Openda. Belgium is without Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois. Estonia is up against Sweden in the group’s other match.
GROUP I
Kosovo hosts Switzerland in a match with strong ties between the squads stemming from immigration to the Alpine nation since war in the Balkans in the 1990s. Kosovo can call on Ismajl Beka and Kreshnik Hajrizi, who were born in Switzerland and play for clubs there. Switzerland’s Uran Bislimi played two international friendlies for Kosovo last year before settling on his national-team eligibility. The ethnic Albanian roots of Swiss veterans Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri are well established from wins against Serbia at the past two World Cups. Switzerland (10 points) leads the group ahead of Romania (8), Israel (7), Belarus (3), Kosovo (3) and Andorra (1). Andorra hosts Belarus and Romania hosts Israel.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer
The Associated Press
