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England, Switzerland, Portugal in semis

UEFA Nations League


November 20, 2018 00:00:00


England's Harry Kane celebrating after scoring his side's second goal during the UEFA Nations League against Croatia at Wembley stadium in London on Sunday — AP

LONDON, Nov 19 (Reuters): England fought back to qualify for the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League as Harry Kane and Jesse Lingard scored late goals in a pulsating 2-1 victory over Croatia, who were relegated from Group A4 after defeat at Wembley on Sunday. England were themselves facing the drop when Croatia's Andrej Kramaric scored after 57 minutes but substitute Lingard and Kane netted in the 77th and 85th minutes at a vociferous Wembley to turn the group on its head.

Gareth Southgate's side, who were knocked out in the semi-finals of the World Cup by Croatia in July, had dominated for large periods but fell behind when Kramaric twisted and turned before firing in via a deflection off Eric Dier.

Yet Lingard poked home and Kane converted Ben Chilwell's free kick to ensure England finished top of a group where all three teams - including Spain who started the day top but finished second - could have qualified.

England, who progress to the finals in Portugal in June, finished with seven points, one ahead of Spain and three clear of Croatia, who were relegated to the second tier.

Croatia, meanwhile, were without influential midfielder Ivan Rakitic, and in his absence the visitors missed a golden opportunity when Ante Rebic fired over with England keeper Jordan Pickford horribly exposed after only two minutes.

As England started to dominate, a fine Kane ball sent Raheem Sterling free, only for the Manchester City winger to shoot directly at Croatia keeper Lovre Kalinic while Kane spooned the resulting corner over the crossbar.

There was very vocal contingent of Croatia fans in the 78,000-strong crowd, but they were lucky not to see their side concede as Kane was brilliantly denied first by defender Tin Jedvaj and then Kalinic with the visitors struggling to contain England's pacy attack.

Meanwhile, Haris Seferovic scored a hat-trick as Switzerland recovered from conceding two early goals to beat World Cup semi-finalists Belgium 5-2 on Sunday and qualify for the last four of the UEFA Nations League in remarkable fashion.

Belgium, who suffered only their second competitive defeat since Euro 2016, threatened to overwhelm Switzerland when Thorgan Hazard scored twice in the first 17 minutes, the first from an awful mistake by Nico Elvedi in the second minute.

In another match, Portugal became the first team to qualify for the Nations League semi-finals when they held Italy 0-0 on Saturday, the second time in a year that the hosts have been knocked out of a competition following a goalless draw at the San Siro. Italy, with defender Giorgio Chiellini making his 100th appearance, suffocated Portugal in the first hour with their pressing and created numerous openings with their intricate passing moves.


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