It was a mixed night for two Newcastle players in the latest round of international fixtures, as Alexander Isak and Miguel Almiron were both in action on Tuesday night.
Viktor Gyokeres will no doubt steal the headlines for his four goals in Sweden’s 6-0 rout of Azerbaijan, but Isak was denied a place on the scoresheet in bizarre fashion as VAR stuck by an incorrect offside decision.
In the dying seconds of the first half, Isak picked up the ball down the left before making a driving run towards the Azerbaijan box and beating Rza Jafarov at the near post. But the goal was wrongly chalked off moments later for offside, denying Isak a sixth consecutive goal in as many appearances in all competitions.
Isak made his feelings known after the game, saying: “How is it possible? For real? That’s almost the worst I’ve ever seen. I can’t lie, I’m furious”, when speaking to the Swedish press. Looking at the stills below, it is baffling.
To make matters worse for our star striker, he then missed a penalty just three minutes into the restart and denying him a 16th international goal on his 50th outing for his country.
Across in South America, Miguel Almiron grabbed a decisive goal as Paraguay secured a vital point in their hopes to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
After recent victories against Brazil and a 1-0 win over Argentina last week, La Albirroja went behind to Bolivia until the 71st minute, when Almiron latched onto a short range pass from Julio Enciso to drive the ball past Guillermo Viscarra and make it 1-1.
The hosts retook the lead with a late penalty, before an Enciso wonder strike brought the two teams level and the game finished 2-2, giving Paraguay a precious point after their shock win over the World Cup holders last week.
Now sitting on 17 points, Almiron and his country now sit four points clear of Bolivia in the automatic spots for the 2026 World Cup, with six games left to play in qualifying.
Back to Europe, Martin Dubravka was handed a night off for Slovakia, who secured their passage into the play-offs with a 1-0 win over Estonia.
Having just narrowly finished behind Group Winners Sweden, Slovakia will now play one of the third placed teams from League B in the March international break for a chance to be promoted into League B for the next round of games.
Almiron just can’t replicate the form he shows on the international stage for us, never mind it might tempt someone to put a bid in January for him.
As for the officiating in the Sweden game it seems that is consistently bad all over the globe even with all the “wonderful” technology we all rely on so much.
Joseph(Quote)