World Cup Qualifiers: Martial scores however France held at Ukraine, Croatia strike late to beat Slovakia

Reigning champion France missed the injured Kylian Mbappé in a 1-1 draw at Ukraine in World Cup qualifying on Saturday however nonetheless stayed atop Europe Group D.
Mykola Shaparenko scored his first worldwide objective for Ukraine simply earlier than halftime by smashing in a shot from 20 meters.
Anthony Martial leveled after the break following a setup from Kingsley Coman and Adrien Rabiot. It was Martial’s second worldwide objective and it got here 5 years and three days after the Manchester United ahead’s earlier strike in a pleasant in opposition to Italy.
Mbappé left France’s squad with a calf downside after taking part in most of a 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
Ukraine additionally drew at France in March.

France has 9 factors from 5 matches and Finland is subsequent with 5 factors from three matches after a header from Joel Pohjanpalo earned a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan.
Ukraine additionally has 5 factors from 5 matches, whereas Bosnia and Kazakhstan have two factors every.
Only the group winners instantly qualify for the World Cup. Second-place finishers face a playoff.
Also, Portugal beat 2022 World Cup host Qatar 3-1 in a pleasant regardless of lacking Cristiano Ronaldo.
Here’s a have a look at the motion in different teams:
GROUP A
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice as Serbia beat Luxembourg 4-1 to maneuver degree with Portugal atop the group with 10 factors. Mitrovic has scored 43 targets for Serbia in 65 appearances.
Ireland and Azerbaijan earned their first factors with a 1-1 draw during which Shane Duffy headed in a late equalizer for Ireland.
GROUP F
European Championship semifinalist Denmark prolonged its good begin to qualifying with a 1-0 win on the Faroe Islands following a objective from Jonas Wind.
Israel beat visiting Austria 5-2 and Scotland edged Moldova 1-0.
Denmark has 15 factors, Israel 10, Scotland eight and Austria seven, whereas the Faroe Islands and Moldova path with one level every.
GROUP G
Memphis Depay scored a brace and the Netherlands outclassed Montenegro 4-0 to remain second within the group behind Turkey, which beat Gibraltar 3-0.
It was the primary residence recreation for Louis van Gaal in his third spell because the Netherlands’ coach.

Erling Haaland transformed an early penalty in Norway’s 2-0 win at Latvia to lift his complete to 9 targets in 14 video games for his nationwide workforce — precisely a 12 months after his first objective for Norway.
Turkey has 11 factors, the Netherlands and Norway 10 every, Montenegro seven, Latvia 4, and Gibraltar zero.
GROUP H
Marcelo Brozovic scored late for Croatia to beat Slovakia 1-0 and stay degree on factors with Russia atop the group.
Russia is forward on objective distinction after beating Cyprus 2-0 with targets from Aleksandr Yerokhin and Rifat Zhemaletdinov.
Also, Slovenia edged Malta with a first-half penalty from Sandi Lovric.
Russia and Croatia every have 10 factors, Slovenia has seven, and Slovakia six. Malta and Cyprus have 4 every.