The Red Lions controlled possession and created 12 attempts on goal, including two shots from Danel Sinani that struck the woodwork. However, Slovakia – largely passive throughout the game – snatched victory when a defensive miscue in stoppage time allowed Tomas Rigo to score from close range.
The decisive play came after a high ball into the box was deflected off Laurent Jans, setting up Lubomir Tupta. His shot was mishandled by goalkeeper Anthony Moris, who spilled the ball directly to Rigo for the winning strike.
Luxembourg had seven minutes of added time but failed to equalize.
Head coach Jeff Strasser lamented the cruel ending: “The scenario of the match is horrible today. I must congratulate my team – important players were missing, yet we managed to play with two different systems in two successive games. We can really talk about bad luck with those two shots off the post. The balls that had to go in simply didn’t.”
The defeat leaves Luxembourg bottom of Group A after also losing to Northern Ireland earlier in the week. Germany bounced back with a win over Northern Ireland, while Slovakia now tops the group – an outcome few would have predicted at the start of the campaign.
Analysis: Bitter to Slovakia loss leaves Luxembourg bottom of Group A
