National Teams

Early goals by Youri Tielemans and Dries Mertens earned Belgium a comfortable 2-0 victory over England as they strengthened their grip on top spot in Nations League Group A2 in Leuven on Sunday.

England needed a win to put themselves back in the frame for a place in the Nations League finals, but Gareth Southgate's side found themselves chasing the game after Tielemans put the hosts in front after 10 minutes.

Así entraba el primero para Bélgica

Netherlands captain Georginio Wijnaldum scored two early goals to set them on their way to a 3-1 victory over Bosnia in their Nations League clash on Sunday, a first win for the Dutch under new coach Frank de Boer.

Wijnaldum, who has taken over as Dutch skipper from injured Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk, opened the scoring after six minutes and put the home side 2-0 up in the 13th at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

Senegal became the first country to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals after a late goal from Sadio Mané secured a 1-0 victory away at Guinea Bissau on Sunday.

Mané, who also scored last Wednesday when Senegal beat Guinea Bissau 2-0 at home, netted with eight minutes remaining to ensure they maintained their 100 percent record in Group I where they are guaranteed a top-two finish and therefore a place at the finals in Cameroon in January 2022.

Guinea-Bissau 0-1 Senegal

Wales assistant manager Robert Page said Gareth Bale is back in love with soccer, having rejoined Tottenham Hotspur following a tough period at Real Madrid, and that could help the forward shine for the national team.

SAO PAULO — Brazil and Uruguay both recorded victories in the World Cup qualifiers on Friday, setting up a meeting in Montevideo next week that Brazilian defender Marquinhos predicted would be another “war” between the old rivals.

“We know that the games against Uruguay are always a war,” Marquinhos said after Brazil’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Venezuela.

BASEL, Switzerland — Spain forward Gerard Moreno came off the bench to snatch a 1-1 draw away to Switzerland in the Nations League on Saturday after Sergio Ramos had missed two penalties.

Ramos, who also became the most capped European player of all time, had scored all of his previous 25 penalties but was thwarted when Yann Sommer guessed the right way and repelled his spot kick in the 58th minute to preserve his side's lead.

LISBON — France handed defending Nations League champions Portugal a rare defeat on Saturday, winning 1-0 in Lisbon with N'Golo Kante's second-half strike to reach the competition's final four at the expense of the holders.

Kante scored only his second France goal in the 54th minute to leave them top of League A Group 3 with 13 points from five games, three ahead of Portugal and with the better head-to-head record to give themselves an unassailable lead.

Mexico scored three goals in four minutes to quickly turn a deficit into a 3-2 win over South Korea on Saturday at the Stadion Wiener Neustadt in Austria.

Raúl Jiménez, Uriel Antuna and Carlos Salcedo scored within minutes from the 67th to 70th minutes to erase an early goal created by Son Heung-min. The friendly was played in Austria without fans at the same stadium where the USMNT will face Panama on Monday.

AMSTERDAM — Netherlands coach Frank de Boer and his key striker Memphis Depay both insisted there was no alarm over the lack of goals from the Dutch team ahead of Sunday’s key Nations League tie against Bosnia in Amsterdam.

The Netherlands have netted only three goals in six internationals this year but Depay said the goals were certain to return.

“They will return, I have full confidence in that,” he told a news conference on Saturday.

BARRANQUILLA — Uruguay's Edinson Cavani scored early and fellow striker Luis Suarez converted a second-half penalty, his fourth in three games for his country, as they beat Colombia 3-0 in Friday’s World Cup qualifier.

Cavani got the opener in the fifth minute after Nahitan Nandez had done the hard work in midfield by robbing the ball and setting him up to fire home a low right-foot shot.

 Gol de Edinson Cavani [5']