France let it slip again as Croatia rally
FRANCE threw away a lead for the second time in four days as they drew 1-1 with Croatia in Nations League Group A1.
With 52 minutes played, Wissam Ben Yedder and Adrien Rabiot linked up nicely, with the Monaco striker dropping deep and passing the ball in behind for Rabiot, who unleashed a left-foot shot into the corner to put France 1-0 ahead.
Rabiot, below, had failed to find the net in his first 21 games for France. But the Juventus midfielder, a reported target for Manchester United this summer, has now scored twice in his past six games for Les Bleus.
France were far from home and dry, however, and Friday’s defeat by Denmark – when they led by the same score and went on to lose 2-1 – would have been fresh in their minds.
Croatia sensed that and were level on 83 minutes.
A shot from Josip Brekalo was palmed away to Andrej Kramaric, who was fouled by Jonathan Clauss.The referee awarded a penalty, only to see the offside flag raised.
But VAR intervened and awarded the spot-kick, which Kramaric duly converted.
Taulant Seferi put Albania in front on the half-hour mark against Iceland in Group B2.
Hosts Iceland then levelled after 49 minutes through Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson.
In Group C3, Aslan Darabayev’s goal helped Kazakhstan secure a 1-0 victory in Slovakia.
The home side netted in the second half through Ladislav Almasi but VAR ruled it out for a foul in the build-up.
In the same group, Azerbaijan drew 0-0 with Belarus.
Azerbaijan also had a goal ruled out by VAR.
In Group A1, former Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick’s first home match as boss of Austria, against Denmark, was delayed for 90 minutes following a reported power failure at the Ernst Happel Stadium.The game finally kicked off at 9.15pm.