World Cup qualification: clear victory for Scotland and Israel

However, the hosts were only ten since the 50th minute after Ion Nikolaescu was expelled for the attack. After a corner from Vadim Rata and a header from Nikolaescu, which was blocked, Caitlin Karp scored a surprise 1-0 (29th) for the outsider at Chisinau.

But immediately before the break, Aron Sahavi scored with his 25th international goal following a score by Dor Perez, a compensation worthy of the Israelis, who were looked after by former ÖFB sports director Willie Ruttenstein.

Moldova weakening itself

Shortly after the move, Israeli defenders Lai Taha and Rata clashed. Nikolasu interfered with this physical argument and pushed Taha to the ground. While the other two fighters competed with yellow cards, Swedish referee Bojan Pandzik showed the striker red. This means that Nikolaescu is missing in a home game against Austria on 1 September, as did yellow-restricted defender Igor Aramas.

With another man, Israel no longer had any problems. Sahvi failed in a direct duel with goalkeeper Alexey Koslev, but Manor Solomon dusted off (57th), as did former Salzburg striker Munas Dabbor (64th) after Kosaliev was checked with a defeated cross. Not even two minutes later, Captain Bibas got Nacho after a hair error in the build-up to the final score (66%).

McGinn double against Faizi Islands

Scotland took the lead in the seventh minute at Hampden Park in Glasgow with a goal from John McGinn. The Aston Villa midfielder also aimed to take a 2–2 lead in the home game against Austria with a superb overhead kick last week.

Even after the break, McGinn was quickly on the spot – this time with a head after Kiran Tierney’s cross (53rd). The 3–0 result was a long-range shot by Che Adams (60th), with the final score being followed by a cross by Andrew Fraser to Andrew Robertson (70th).