Nottingham Forest’s on-loan goalkeeper Arijanet Muric saw his hopes of automatically reaching Euro 2020 evaporate last night; although the big stopper was named as the Man of the Match in Kosovo’s 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic.
The big game of the night in England’s group ended in disaster for one of Europe’s newest formed nations. Sheffield Wednesday striker Atdhe Nuhiu gave Kosovo the perfect start but goals from Alex Kral and Ondrej Celustka ensured it was the home side who joined England in qualifying for next summer’s event.
Muric was powerless to prevent the two Czech goals and his nation must now prepare to win a place at Euro 2020 via the lottery of the play-offs.
The custodian joined Forest in the summer from Premier League champions Manchester City on a season-long loan. After playing in the club’s first four league fixtures, he has played second fiddle to Brice Samba ever since.
International football has thrown him up an opportunity to play some games and he would have loved to ease the disappointment of losing his place at Forest with Euro 2020 qualification.
Next up for Muric and his Kosovo team-mates is England. The goalkeeper could be in for a busy night, with the Three Lions smashing seven past Montenegro last night.
During a previous meeting between Kosovo and England, Muric was also kept occupied. Problems were caused for Gareth Southgate’s men but eventually, England ran out 5-3 victors.
Confidence
The future for Muric at Forest looks bleak. Samba has been a revelation between the posts and doesn’t look like relinquishing control of the gloves any time soon.
International football does allow him the chance to play a couple of games, although it seems highly unlikely that he will force his way back into the thoughts of Sabri Lamouchi in the coming weeks.
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Winning Man of the Match will have done wonders for his confidence. That could bode well should anything unfortunate happen to Samba around a particularly busy Christmas period for Forest.
Kosovo will use their game with England to warm up for their play-off campaign. They will face a semi-final with Macedonia with the winners of that contest facing either Georgia or Belarus for a place at Euro 2020.
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