Moldova, ranked 171st, stun Poland in comeback win

June 21: Moldova, ranked 171st in the world, stunned Poland as they came from 2-0 down to win only their second qualifying game since 2013.

Poland, who are 23rd in Fifa's rankings and beat Germany in a friendly on Friday, looked in control after 34 minutes in Chisinau.

Arkadiusz Milik gave Fernando Santos' side the lead and then set up Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski for his 79th goal for his country - 67 more than Moldova's new record goalscorer has netted.

Ion Nicolaescu, who plays for Beitar Jerusalem, scored twice to get the minnows back on level terms. Those strikes took the 24-year-old, who has won 34 caps, onto a national record 12 goals.

The previous record was the 11 scored by Serghei Clescenco, who is now Moldova's manager.

It was to get even better as defender Vladyslav Baboglo headed in a late winner on only his second cap from a cross by Serafim Cojocari, who had replaced Nicolaescu just 23 seconds earlier.

Oleksandriya's Baboglo made his Moldova debut only last week, having previously played for Ukraine up to under-21 level.

Moldova - who are ranked below St Lucia and Vanuatu - had won only one of their past 43 games in European Championship or World Cup qualifiers, a 1-0 win over Andorra in 2019.

Along with draws against the Faroe Islands and the Czech Republic, Moldova has moved above Poland into third place in Euro 2024 qualifying Group E.

(BBC)