France saved their hopes of staying within the prime tier of the Nations League alive as Olivier Giroud grew to become the oldest scorer of their historical past in a 2-0 residence defeat of Austria.
Kylian Mbappé broke the impasse within the 56th minute with a cool end after beating 5 defenders following an ideal go from Giroud, earlier than the Milan striker scored a header from a pinpoint Antoine Griezmann cross 4 minutes later.
Giroud, who as soon as once more proved to his supervisor, Didier Deschamps, that he’s greater than a third-choice centre-forward, is aged 35 years and 357 days – 70 days older than France’s earlier oldest scorer, Roger Marche, was when he netted in opposition to Spain in December 1959.
Victory for France got here at a worth, nonetheless, because the defender Jules Koundé and the goalkeeper Mike Maignan sustained accidents. They may be part of Karim Benzema, Hugo Lloris and Paul Pogba on the sidelines.
France, who journey to Denmark on Sunday, climbed to 3rd in League A Group 1 with 5 factors from as many video games because of the victory. Deschamps stated: “We did what we needed to do. Our intentions have been good, everybody defended so much, there are quite a lot of positives. The mindset was good, it was an excellent efficiency.”
The Croatia substitute Lovro Majer’s late purpose sealed a 2-1 win in opposition to Denmark within the group’s different recreation, along with his winner coming simply two minutes after the visiting captain, Christian Eriksen, had struck an outstanding equaliser.
Borna Sosa opened the scoring for the hosts with a advantageous end 4 minutes after half-time, however a second of magic from Eriksen appeared set to safe a degree as he fired residence an excellent dipping shot within the 77th minute.
The reduction was short-lived, nonetheless, as Majer picked up the ball on the sting of the field and rattled it previous Kasper Schmeichel. Croatia now lead the group on 10 factors, one forward of Denmark.
Cody Gakpo scored early and Steven Bergwijn added a second to earn the Netherlands a 2-0 win in Poland.
Gakpo’s Thirteenth-minute opener on the Narodowy Stadium got here on the finish of a slick passing transfer because the striker tapped residence Denzel Dumfries’ inch-perfect sq. go after the Polish defence has been prised aside.
Bergwijn doubled the lead within the sixtieth minute, coming in off the left flank to play a intelligent one-two with the substitute Vincent Janssen and curling the ball expertly into the web. Louis van Gaal’s aspect have now received 4 of their 5 video games in League A Group 4 and are three factors forward of Belgium, who beat Wales 2-1.
Turkey and Luxembourg performed out a six-goal thriller in League C Group 1, with Ismail Yuksek scoring within the 87th minute to rescue a 3-3 draw for the hosts, whereas the group’s different recreation additionally led to a stalemate as Lithuania held the Faroe Islands to a 1-1 draw.
