England defeated top-ranked Belgium in the Nations League Cup thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford and a deflected strike from Mason Mount while Croatia handed Sweden their third loss of the tournament as they surged to third in their group.
Marcus Rashford`s penalty and a deflected 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.
The Belgians pressed forward, with Yannick Carrasco and Kevin de Bruyne finding space and time to create seven shots on goal to England`s two in the first half.
Part of England’s struggle to make opportunities stemmed from manager Gareth Southgate fielding a five-man back line, and perhaps from his decision to leave midfielder Jack Grealish - man-of-the-match for his creative efforts in a midweek 3-0 friendly win over Wales - on the bench.
Nevertheless, when England won a corner late in the half, Belgium`s Thomas Meunier clumsily pulled down the hosts` captain Jordan Henderson to concede a penalty. Rashford converted from the spot to register his 11th goal in an England shirt. England then picked up the pace in the second half and got their reward through Mount in the 64th minute with a shot that took a heavy deflection off the boot of Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld, looping over keeper Simon Mignolet into the far corner of the net.
"It doesn’t matter how they go in. I found myself with a bit of space in the box and only had one thing on my mind, to get the ball out of my body and shoot. A big deflection, but you`ll take them," Mount told Sky Sports.
Despite Belgium pushing forward repeatedly, England kept their shape and ran the clock down to record a win that put them on seven points in the Nations League group to Belgium’s six.
"They made it tough for us, we were hanging in there at halftime, we got back into it at 1-1, and we knew we could regroup then, talk about the things we could do better, and fix the problems we were having," Mount said. "We’ve got the mentality, we’ve got the work ethic to get better and better and that`s the path we`re on."
Croatia register first win
Croatia celebrated their first Nations League top-tier Group 3 win after a late goal by substitute Andrej Kramaric gave them a 2-1 home win over Sweden on Sunday. The result left the Croatians third in the group on three points from three games, three behind holders Portugal and world champions France who were playing each other in the evening kick-off. Sweden have lost all three opening fixtures.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic was pleased with his team’s start to the match, played in driving rain at Maksimir stadium.
"We played really well in the opening 60 minutes but we couldn`t keep up with our own pace and we struggled in the last half an hour," Dalic told a news conference. "But I am pleased we found a way to win and we’re now looking forward to the home game with France. We are going to reshuffle the starting line-up a bit for that one."
Croatia host France on Wednesday, having lost the reverse fixture 4-2 after they were beaten by the same score by Les Bleus in the 2018 World Cup final. Midfielder Nikola Vlasic fired the Croatians into a 32nd-minute lead against the Swedes when he swept the ball home from 10 metres from a flowing move involving winger Josip Brekalo and Luka Modric. Striker Marcus Berg equalised midway through the second half thanks to an Emil Forsberg assist, as Sweden’s more adventurous approach after the break paid off.
The home side had the last laugh, though, as substitute Kramaric side-footed home the winner in the 84th minute after an unselfish pass by Ivan Perisic.
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