Lingard, Kane strike as England advances to Nations League finals
LONDON: England and Switzerland have fought back yesterday from being behind to Croatia and Belgium respectively to win and advance to the inaugural Uefa Nations League finals.
At Wembley, England came from a goal down to defeat Croatia 21 and Switzerland stunned Belgium 52 to join European champion Portugal in next year’s final four.
Losing World Cup finalist Croatia was close to progressing to the finals in June but instead will be relegated from League A in a group which also featured Spain.
Belgium, meanwhile, was in the box seat to progress before the world No 1 Red Devils crashed to defeat against the Swiss, who needed at least a twogoal advantage after going 20 down to edge the visitors on headtohead record.
Croatia, which beat England in the World Cup semifinals, looked set to repeat that after Andrej Kramaric’s deflected goal gave it a secondhalf lead. But Kane set up Jesse Lingard’s equaliser and got the winner by sliding to poke home Ben Chilwell’s freekick in the 85th minute.
England finished top of League A group 4 on seven points, one more than Spain and three clear of Croatia.
‘‘I’m very proud first and foremost. I thought we dictated a lot of the game and had good chances in the first half,’’ England manager Gareth Southgate said.
‘‘Then we let quite a soft goal in and it’s a real test of resilience and patience. We rode our luck with their counterattacks with one cleared off the line.’’
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said: ‘‘England weren’t too dangerous in the second half but our condition was on decline. We couldn’t find a solution.’’
In Lucerne, Thorgan Hazard put Belgium two goals up against Switzerland in group 2 but the host side turned the game around before halftime with a penalty from Ricardo Rodriquez and a brace from Haris Seferovic.
The Swiss made it four when Nico Elvedi headed home in the 62nd minute. Seferovic headed a fifth to complete his hattrick six minutes from time.
In League B, relegated Northern Ireland lost 21 to visiting Austria which hit a stoppagetime winner through Valentino Lazaro. Bosnia and Herzegovina topped the group to be promoted to the top tier.
Hungary defeated
already promoted Finland 20 in League C group 2 to jump ahead of Greece, which slipped to a 10 home defeat to bottom side Estonia.
In League D group 2, Belarus gained promotion with a 20 win at San Marino while Moldova and Luxembourg drew 11. — DPA