Hungary, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan qualify
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
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Hungary scored in the last second of extra time to beat Romania as Kazakhstan earned a finals debut and the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan also won their play-offs.
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• Hungary come from behind in extra time to beat Romania with last-second winner
• Kazakhstan book debut finals as Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic, also win play-offs
•Finals draw 12.00CET, Friday 2 October, Belgrade Town Hall (seedings tbc)
• Final tournament 2–13 February, Belgrade Arena
Qualified teams: Serbia (hosts), Italy (holders), Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine
Hungary 4-3 Romania (aet, agg: 6-5)
Zoltán Dróth scored with a second left of extra time to send Hungary to Serbia and dramatically end Romania's bid at Debrecen's Főnix Arena, where the 2010 final was played. Ákos Harnisch put Hungary ahead early on with a neat finish from a corner but Florin Matei equalised, then made it 2-1 from the spot in an incident that saw Harnisch sent off in the 24th minute. Ádám Hosszú soon levelled from Dróth's pass and, after Matei missed a 37th-minute double penalty, the tie went to extra time.
Matei completed his hat-trick 82 seconds into extra time, and the away-goals rule meant Hungary needed two; it could have been three but Marius Matei failed with another double penalty. Dróth gave Hungary hope with just under four minutes remaining and as time ran out he headed in Norbert Öreglaki's hopeful long ball to spark wild celebrations among the players and raucous crowd of 3,573 fans.
Belarus 1-1 Czech Republic (agg: 2-3)
The Czech Republic reached their eight straight European finals but were made to work by 2010 qualifiers Belarus. The home side had the better of the chances in Minsk, with captain Vadim Lushkovski denied several times by Libor Gerčák. Belarus went for broke with a flying goalkeeper but with 13 seconds to go Radim Záruba scored into an empty net for the visitors. Aleskei Popov still had time to score, but three seconds were not enough for Belarus to force ten extra minutes.
Kazakhstan 4-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina (agg: 9-0)
Kazakhstan looked assured of a first qualification after their 5-0 away win last week and they produced another dominant display to seal it and condemn their visitors to a second straight play-off exit. Kairat Almaty team-mates Leo and Douglas scored in the first half and after the interval Pavel Taku and Chingiz Yesenamanov made certain.
Slovakia 1-1 Azerbaijan (agg: 2-4)
Azerbaijan are through to their fourth finals in a row despite an impressive performance from the hosts in Trvana. Seeking a first appearance in a major tournament, Slovakia took control early on but against the run of play Vitaliy Borisov's first-time shot put Azerbaijan 4-1 up on aggregate following Rizvan Farzaliyev's pass. Slovakia continued to press and Dušan Rafaj scored soon after the break. Slovakia deployed a flying goalkeeper in the last seven minutes but Azerbaijan's Rovshan Huseynli proved unbeatable.