Shock defeat & Euro qualification sealed in style as NUFC duo experience contrasting night

Newcastle United duo Martin Dubravka and Emil Krafth were both in action for their countries on Thursday night.

For Dubravka, it was a night of celebration, as Slovakia pulled off a 4-2 win over Iceland to book their place in Euro 2024. The win sees them guarantee a second-place finish, seeing them qualify from Group J alongside Portugal.

The goalkeeper impressed over the last international break, keeping a clean sheet in a key 1-0 win over Luxembourg and pulling off some superb saves in a narrow 3-2 defeat to Portugal before that, but his only appearance for Newcastle this season was in our 3-0 cup win at Man Utd.

Then to Emil Krafth, who will be left with very mixed emotions this morning. On a personal note, it was huge for him to be called up to the Sweden squad and feature for the first time in 18 months following that horrific ACL injury.

However, his 30-minute cameo was in a shock 3-0 defeat to 10-man Azerbaijan; a nation ranked 120th by FIFA. The Swedes have no chance of qualifying for next year’s Euros, seeing Krafth, Alexander Isak and the entire nation miss out on another major tournament.

Emil Krafth made his return to international action earlier tonight as he came off the bench for Sweden. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/sfYFrzWt5a

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) November 16, 2023

Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2023/11/17/shock-defeat-euro-qualification-sealed-in-style-as-nufc-duo-experience-contrasting-night/

Author : Olly Hawkins

Publish date : 2023-11-17 10:11:35

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