Pick of the Week of Football

UEFA.com reviews the first double-header week of football in the new European Qualifiers, with the likes of Iceland, Slovakia and Poland causing big upsets while Robbie Keane made UEFA EURO history.

Team: Iceland
With two sets of games there is no shortage of candidates: Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Croatia to name but three. But Iceland stand out, as UEFA's sixth smallest nation by population are yet to drop a point or concede a goal, following up their 3-0 September defeat of Turkey by winning 3-0 in Latvia then, sensationally, 2-0 against the Netherlands.

The scalp of the Netherlands was no fluke, Gylfi Sigurdsson scoring twice in the first half and the FIFA World Cup semi-finalists barely troubling Iceland in the second. Iceland, after their best-ever qualifying start, and the Czech Republic lead the Dutch by six points in Group A and Sigurdsson said: "We worked hard and our plan worked perfectly – defend and hit them on the counterattack."

Player: Robbie Keane (Republic of Ireland)
Saturday was a pretty special day for Ireland captain Keane. The much-travelled LA Galaxy striker managed a hat-trick within the first 18 minutes against Gibraltar, taking his international tally to 65 and his UEFA EURO qualifying total to a new record of 21.

The 34-year-old then added two assists in the 7-0 win to net 20 points for anyone (like UEFA.com tipster Dan) who put him in theirEuropean Qualifiers Fantasy Footballteam. But it was the three Group D points that Keane was interested in. "You are judged on scoring goals," he said. On Tuesday he handed the mantle to the unlikely figure of John O'Shea, who marked his 100th cap with a 94th-minute equaliser against Germany.

Goal: Bilal Kisa (Turkey)
Substitute Kisa picked a fine way to score his first competitive Turkey goal in the 1-1 Group A draw with Latvia ...

Goalkeepers: Peter Jehle & Cengiz Biçer (Liechtenstein)
Liechtenstein do not keep many clean sheets but were on course for one an hour into Thursday's Group G game at home to Montenegro. The vastly experienced Jehle was in inspired form, but on 62 minutes was forced off by an arm injury. On came Biçer, of Turkish third-tier club Göztepe SK, and he picked up where Jehle left off to earn a 0-0 draw, Liechtenstein's first shut-out since 2012.

Jehle said: "We put our blood, sweat and tears into the game. Montenegro did not gift us anything – they came at us with wave after wave of attacks. It is really nice to be rewarded."

Tweets: Dirk Kuyt (@Dirk_18_Kuyt, ex-Netherlands)
Even if you can't speak Dutch, you should get the gist of Kuyt's tweet during the 3-1 defeat of Kazahstan on Friday, his first match since international retirement ...

Match: Slovakia 2-1 Spain
It had been 36 UEFA EURO qualifiers since title hat-trick-chasing Spain had been beaten, a run of eight years. But having had their initial advantage cancelled out by Paco Alcácer with eight minutes left, Slovakia were to end Spain's run courtesy of substitute Miroslav Stoch's header in Zilina.

"We had players suffering from cramp, but they battled through the pain and made the whole country happy," said Slovakia coach Ján Kozák while Juanfran admitted: "Their keeper had the game of his life." After both teams won on Sunday, Slovakia lead Spain by three points in Group C.

Quote: "I have a bruise on my ankle, but I don't remember who kicked me. When you beat the world champions, you don't feel pain."
Sebastian Mila, who put Poland 2-0 up against Germany as a substitute in Group D on Saturday, on helping clinch their first-ever win against the world champions.

Man of the match: Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) v Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan held out for 44 minutes in Palermo on Friday before Chiellini broke the deadlock for their Group H rivals. He added another in the 76th minute, unfortunately into his own net. Now Italy needed a hero and up stepped ... Chiellini, to head in a winner with eight minutes left. "Luckily I scored one more in the right goal!" he said.

Number: 15
When Martin Ødegaard came off the bench for Norway in their 2-1 Group H victory against Bulgaria on Monday, he became the first 15-year-old to play in a UEFA EURO qualifier.

Photo: Gareth Bale (Wales 2-1 Cyprus)

©AFP/Getty Images

Next time: Last games of 2014
Just the one set of weekend matches next time between 14 and 16 November before many nations conclude the year with friendlies.The likes of the Netherlands and Spain will be keen to make up lost ground while others could finish 2014 on 12 points and start to dream of France.

Highlights
Friday 16 November: 18.00CET – Georgia v Poland; 20.45CET – Romania v Northern Ireland
Saturday 17 November: 18.00CET – England v Slovenia; 20.45CET – Spain v Belarus
Sunday 18 November: 18.00CET – Belgium v Wales; 20.45CET – Czech Republic v Iceland, Italy v Croatia