Italy on Tuesday needed a late winner from Marco Verratti to defeat a determined Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, while Germany and France piled up the goals in lopsided victories.
Edin Dzeko fired Bosnia in front in Turin, but Lorenzo Insigne equalized shortly after halftime and Verratti curled home on 86 minutes to earn a fourth win in as many attempts for Roberto Mancini’s side in Group J.
“I expected the difficulties, but we showed the strength and the conviction to overturn it,” Mancini said. “The important thing is that we are first in the group.”
Photo: AFP
World champions France rebounded from last weekend’s defeat in Turkey with a trouble-free 4-0 win away to minnows Andorra.
“We reacted well after not playing to our usual level on Saturday against a good Turkey team. It looked easy today and the intensity wasn’t the same, but we played really well,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
He retained just four of those who began Saturday’s 2-0 loss in Konya, handing first international starts to Kurt Zouma, Clement Lenglet and Leo Dubois.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring with a chipped finish on 11 minutes, with Wissam Ben Yedder and Florian Thauvin adding to their lead in the first half.
Zouma bundled home a fourth on the hour as France reclaimed top spot in Group H after Iceland beat Turkey 2-1 in Reykjavik to further sour the mood in the visiting camp.
Turkish officials had denounced the “disrespect” shown to the team when they arrived in Iceland, unhappy at being kept waiting for several hours at passport control at the airport and subjected to extensive security checks.
Two headers in the first half by centerback Ragnar Sigurdsson saw Iceland draw level on nine points with France as well as Turkey, for whom Dorukhan Tokoz scored a consolation.
Germany made light work of Estonia, as Serge Gnabry and Marco Reus fired them to a thundering 8-0 victory in Mainz.
Gnabry and Reus scored two goals each, with Leon Goretzka, Ilkay Gundogan, Timo Werner and Leroy Sane also on target, as Germany ran riot to seal a third win from three games in Group C.
Underdogs Estonia were helpless against a bright young Germany side who appear to have left last year’s World Cup woes far behind.
“Opponents like this are not the benchmark for us,” Reus said. “It was important for us to get into a rhythm and get to know each other better on the pitch, but we have to stay realistic.”
Joachim Loew’s team are still playing catch-up to Northern Ireland after Paddy McNair struck four minutes from the end in a 1-0 victory in Belarus.
Belgium extended their perfect start to Group I with a 3-0 defeat of Scotland in Brussels.
Romelu Lukaku headed in an Eden Hazard cross just before halftime and bagged another just afterward, with Kevin de Bruyne thumping in another at the death.
“The team is getting better every time,” Lukaku said.
Russia followed up their 9-0 trouncing of San Marino with a much nervier win over Cyprus that came courtesy of a single goal by Aleksei Ionov.
Ryan Giggs’ Wales suffered back-to-back losses as Mate Patkai struck 10 minutes from time to earn Hungary a 1-0 victory in Budapest.
Hungary, the only side to have played four games in Group E, are top on nine points, three clear of Slovakia, who were 5-1 winners in Azerbaijan, where Marek Hamsik scored twice.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but