INDIA LOSE TO JORDAN 1- 2
England avenge World Cup semi loss; advance in Nations League
London, Nov. 18: Harry Kane and England advanced to the final four of the inaugural UEFA Nations League by avenging their World Cup semifinal loss to Croatia.
The England captain ended a seven- game goal drought to complete a comeback at Wembley, sealing a 2- 1 victory on Sunday in the final group game in European football’s newest competition. It came four months after England lost by the same score to Croatia in their first World Cup semifinal in 28 years.
Croatian players have said since July that they were inspired by the perceived arrogance of the “Football’s Coming Home” lyric in the “Three Lions” team anthem. The song was played immediately after the final whistle at Wembley Stadium where Croatia won 11 years ago to deny England a trip to the 2008 European Championship.
Andrej Kramaric scored 12 minutes into the second half to put Croatia up, but Kane set up substitute Jesse Lingard’s equaliser in the 78th. The Tottenham striker netted the winner with a sliding kick seven minutes later for his first goal for England since the round of 16 at the World Cup and clinch top spot in Group A4.
The Nations League Final Four tournament will be played in June in Portugal. The other two finalists will be Belgium or Switzerland and France or the Netherlands. Portugal in semis Meanwhile, Portugal became the team to qualify for Nations first the League semifinals on Saturday after holding Italy to a 0- 0 draw at the San Siro stadium. The Portuguese — despite the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo — progressed with one match to play, and are sure to finish top of Group A3, with Italy’s hopes over.
Poland had already been relegated to League B.
Roberto Mancini’s Italians needed a win to advance to the final four next June but despite pushing Portugal for over an hour, they could not find a way through. Instead, they earned a goalless draw which echoed the stalemate against Sweden a year ago that ended their hopes of reaching the World Cup in Russia.
Portugal host Poland on Tuesday in Guimaraes, in a match that has no significance for either side. Albania thrashed Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser scored his maiden international goal as Alex McLeish’s Scotland thrashed 10- man Albania 40 in Shkoder on Saturday to close in on promotion from Nations League C.
The Scots will secure top spot in Group C1 and a Euro 2020 play- off place if they can beat Israel at Hampden Park on Tuesday. Kosovo’s Euro dream Earlier on Saturday, Kosovo took a big step towards reaching the qualifying play- offs for the Euros with a 5- 0 thrashing of Malta.
Bernard Challandes’ side, who were only given UEFA membership in 2016, sit top in Group D3 and will secure promotion and a play- off place if they can avoid a home defeat against Azerbaijan in their final game on Tuesday.
Sweden kept their hopes of promotion to League A alive as Andreas Granqvist’s 71st- minute penalty gave them a 1- 0 win in Turkey.
Romania kept the pressure on Serbia at the top of Group C4 with a 3- 0 victory over Lithuania — AFP Amman, ( Jordan) Nov. 18: The Indian football team went down 1- 2 to Jordan in an international football friendly at the King Abdullah Inter- national Stadium.
The journey to the Jordan capital from New Delhi was far from smooth for the Indian players, as many were stranded at Kuwait City airport due to flash floods in this part of the world.
Goalkeeper cum captain Amer Shafi put 112th ranked Jordan ahead with a free goal in the 25th minute. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu failed to read the bounce of the shot from the other end of the pitch.
Ehsan Haddad consolidated Jordan’s position and made it 2- 0. Substitute for Jackie- chand Singh, Nishu Kumar pulled one when he found the net from a close range in the 61st minute. The game against Jordan was in preparation for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.