COLOGNE, Germany — Germany twice had to come from behind to earn a rollercoaster 3-3 draw against visitors Switzerland in an exciting Nations League group game packed with incident on Tuesday.
The result moves Germany within a point of League A Group Four leaders Spain, who lost 1-0 away to Ukraine, while the Swiss, who are still without a win, remain bottom.
A beautiful aspect of international football is that it allows you to sample the vibe of a far-flung locale from the comfort of your own living room. Today, I took a trip to Riga, Latvia, to watch a UEFA Nations League D Group 1 meeting between the host nation and visiting Malta.
With Faroe Islands pacing the group on seven points from three matches, this was effectively a must-win game for both 137th-ranked Latvia (three points off three draws) and 186th-ranked Malta (two points).
LISBON — Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for COVID-19, Portugal's Football Federation said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old Juventus forward is asymptomatic and will miss Wednesday's UEFA Nations League game against Sweden as he self-isolates.
Unidos dentro e fora do campo! #todosportugal pic.twitter.com/4bQSUIPm2m
Germany striker Timo Werner is fully fit for their Nations League game against Switzerland on Tuesday but there are still doubts about Julian Draxler, Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg, coach Joachim Loew said on Monday.
Germany will need all the attacking power they can get after narrowly beating Ukraine 2-1 on Saturday for their first win in the last four internationals. They drew the previous three games after leading in all of them.
Italy coach Roberto Mancini fumed over the state of the pitch after his team were held to a 0-0 draw away to Poland in the Nations League on Sunday.
After a glaring miss by Federico Chiesa early in the game, Italy struggled to create chances and managed only three shots on target despite enjoying 60% of possession. Even so, Italy extended their unbeaten run to 18 matches as they stayed top of League A Group One with five points from three games. The Netherlands and Poland have four each and Bosnia two.
Norway showed Brendan Rodgers levels of character by rebounding from Thursday’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Serbia in the Euro 2021 playoffs with a 4-0 win over Romania in Nations League play on Sunday.
It’s obviously small consolation for the nation’s failure to qualify for a first major international tournament since Euro 2000, but today’s victory showed why qualifying for the 2022 World Cup might be within this current generation’s reach.
Marcus Rashford's penalty and a lucky strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.
Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for the visitors from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after being brought down by a lunging tackle from England's Eric Dier. It was the Inter Milan striker's 13th goal in his last 11 matches for his country.
KIEV — Germany scored once in either half to beat hosts Ukraine 2-1 in the Nations League on Saturday for their first win in four matches and their first ever victory in this competition.
Matthias Ginter put them ahead in the 20th minutes after good work from Antonio Ruediger, and Leon Goretzka pounced on a mistake by Ukraine keeper Georgiy Bushchan to head in their second goal four minutes after the restart.
Even three years later, it’s not hard to recall the exact feelings that fateful night exactly three years ago. The USMNT, expected to get at least a point and avoid a total collapse to book its berth at the 2018 World Cup instead lost spot in the most bizarre of days.
SAO PAULO — Roberto Firmino scored twice and Marquinhos and Philippe Coutinho also got goals as Brazil hammered Bolivia 5-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier in Sao Paulo on Friday.
Brazil had never lost a World Cup qualifier at home, a run that stood at 54 matches going into Friday's game, and they never looked in danger of losing that record.