2023-09-11 10:07:22
European Championship qualification
For decades, Luxembourg’s national football team was seen as a whipping boy. But the tide has turned. At the halfway point of the European Championship qualification, the selection from the 660,000-inhabitant state is on track and would like to surprise again on Monday (8:45 p.m.). Even if Group J leaders Portugal don’t get a point, the European Championship ticket is firmly in their sights. “They have a clear vision and are focused,” said coach Luc Holtz about his team.
11.09.2023 12.07
Online since today, 12:07 p.m
Holtz played 54 times as an active player, three times he left the field as the winner with “Letzebuerg”. In the European Championship qualification alone, the current selection around Austria Vienna’s defensive player Marvin Martins has celebrated so many successes; they came in series against Liechtenstein, Bosnia and, on Friday, Iceland. At least the latter two are not football dwarfs. In Slovakia, the team from the Grand Duchy managed to score 0-0 at the start and with ten points, the number 89 in the world rankings is tied for second place behind the Slovaks.
Slovakia will also be the big rival in the duel for the second European Championship starting place; the home second leg will take place three days after the Iceland trip on October 16th in Luxembourg. In order to surprise old star Cristiano Ronaldo’s previously flawless Portuguese team, an almost superhuman performance will be necessary on Monday. In the first leg they were defeated 6-0 at home.
IMAGO/Gerry Schmit It’s still a long way off, but Luxemburg and Luc Holtz could make it to a European Championship for the first time
The 54-year-old long-term coach Holtz, in office since 2010, can count on an experienced team for his historic mission, which almost exclusively relies on players who are committed abroad. Mainz’s Leandro Barreiro is one of them, as are Mönchengladbach’s Yvandro Borges Sanchez, Cologne’s Mathias Olesen and St. Pauli’s Danel Sinani. In addition to Martins, another Austrian legionnaire, Dirk Carlson (SKN St. Pölten), is in the game. They are supposed to make the previously impossible possible. Holtz believes in it. “If I have to set a goal, it’s obviously second place.”
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