Paris (AFP)

France, by going to beat Sweden (1-0), and Portugal, easy winner of Croatia (4-1), took three precious points, Saturday night, in the "group of death" of the 2nd League of the UEFA nations.

For its part in Group 2, England hardly beat Iceland (1-0).

The reigning world champions lined up Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), after two years of absence in the selection, and the young Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig) in a central defense with three elements which was not too jostled by the Swedes.

A goal from Kylian Mbappé (41st), who launched himself on the left side before shooting closely in a closed angle, reassured the Blues just before the break.

Then Didier Deschamps ensured the result without conducting a workforce review, and Antoine Griezmann even offered the luxury of missing a penalty at the last second, following a foul on Anthony Martial, by shooting above.

In the other shock of this group 3, Portugal, winner last year of the first edition of the League of Nations, was deprived of Cristiano Ronaldo (infection in the right foot), facing the Croats without Modric and Rakitic.

A superb shot from Joao Cancelo (41st), at the same time as Mbappé's victorious raid for the Blues, put the Portuguese on track, then Diogo Jota (58th), the Wolverhampton striker, doubled the bet.

- Belgium manages -

The score would have been much heavier if the posts had not saved Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic three times.

It was, anyway, because Joao Félix, 20, the new Portuguese marvel (70th), and André Silva (90th + 5) added to the note.

The Croats, finalists of the last World Cup, saved the honor by Petkovic (90th + 1).

In the other matches of this evening without big surprise, England got away with it in extremis against Iceland (1-0), one of its pet peeves, in group 2, thanks to a converted penalty by the very useful Raheem Sterling (90th + 1).

The Icelanders could have equalized right after, also from the penalty spot, but Birkir Bjarnason shot over.

They had prematurely eliminated the English Lions in the round of 16 of Euro-2016 in France.

Still in Group 2, Belgium quietly managed this international recovery and easily beat Denmark (2-0) thanks to a goal from Lyonnais Jason Denayer (9th), his first for the Red Devils, then another from Dries Mertens (77th), the Naples striker.

Finally, two relative surprises took place in League C: modest Luxembourg, in progress, won in Azerbaijan (1-0), while North Macedonia beat Armenia (2-1).

There are 55 countries involved in this 2nd League of Nations.

© 2020 AFP