Mbappe magic gives France 1-0 win

LONDON:

A slice of luck and a moment of individual brilliance during a mazy run from Kylian Mbappe gave France a gritty 1-0 win away to Sweden in their Nations League A Group 3 clash on Saturday with Antoine Griezmann even missing a last-minute penalty.

France coach Didier Deschamps tried a new 3-4-1-2 system but the Swedes, promoted to the competition's top tier after their group victory last year, frustrated the world champions for the first 40 minutes until Mbappe proved to be the difference.

The 21-year-old Paris St Germain striker got a fortunate bounce off a defender's legs as he danced through the right side of the Swedish defence before beating goalkeeper Robin Olsen from a very tight angle at his near post.

With the clock ticking towards 90 minutes, Sweden winger Emil Forsberg forced a fine save from Hugo Lloris and Marcus Berg thumped a shot that was deflected wide for a corner that the hosts could not capitalise on as France held firm.

Anthony Martial, who was in the French squad for the first time since March 2018 and came on in the second half for Mbappe, was brought down by Victor Lindelof for a late penalty.

However, Griezmann fired over over the bar with the final kick of the game and, despite France's attack failing to fire, Deschamps declared himself satisfied with the result.

"Not everything was perfect. It's a new system that worked pretty well, (but) we could have done better in attacking terms," he told French TV channel M6.

Mbappe was pleased with his coach's tactical switch.

"I like being closer to goal in this system, it makes me happy. I think its a system that suits the characteristics of other players in the team too, and we'll work on it to make it work," he said.

On Tuesday, Sweden host Portugal, who beat Croatia 4-1 on Saturday, while France take on the Croatians in Paris.

Belgium win 2-0 against Denmark

Belgium enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win away to Denmark thanks to a goal in each half from Jason Denayer and Dries Mertens in their Nations League A Group 2 clash on Saturday.

Kasper Hjulmand's reign as Denmark coach got off to a bad start when Jason Denayer put the visitors ahead in the ninth minute after losing his marker to score from close range off Dries Mertens' corner.

The home side pressed high up the pitch and captain Simon Kjaer did a good job of shackling Belgium's target man Romelu Lukaku but, despite decent chances for Martin Braithwaite and Christian Eriksen, they struggled to get many shots on target.

The Belgians took over in the second half, with substitute Dennis Praet snapping up the ball form an attempted clearance and forcing a smart save from Kasper Schmeichel.

There was little Schmeichel could do in the 77th minute, however, after he parried a shot from Youri Tielemans and Mertens reacted quickest to slam the ball home and double the advantage as Belgium coasted to victory.

"After ten months, we are back together now for only five days and it took a little time to adapt," Mertens told Belgian TV. "Our second half was better, but I must say that the first goal was very welcome."

Coach Roberto Martinez praised his side's team spirit after their long layoff from international football.

Ronaldo-less Portugal beat Croatia

Nations League holders Portugal made light of Cristiano Ronaldo's injury absence as they swept aside Croatia 4-1 in their opener in the competition on Saturday.

European champions Portugal, in impressive form on their return to action after a 10-month new coronavirus hiatus, hit the woodwork three times before Joao Cancelo fired them ahead four minutes before halftime in the League A Group Three match.

Diogo Jota and Joao Felix both scored their first international goals in the second half before Bruno Petkovic pulled one back and Andre Silva then added a fourth.

Ronaldo, who is on 99 international goals, was ruled out with a toe infection while Croatia were missing key midfielders Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic after their federation agreed not to pick them before the start of the European club season.