France beaten by Finland, Dutch draw with Spain

Marcus Forss and Onni Valakari scored in the first half to give Finland their first win against Les Bleus, having lost all their previous eight encounters going into the game at the Stade de France.

World champions France dominated possession and had the first clear chance when Marcus Thuram’s header crashed onto the crossbar, but Didier Deschamps’ side, without the injured Kylian Mbappe, lacked inspiration throughout.

Les Bleus, whose last defeat was in June 2019 when they lost 2-0 away to Turkey in a Euro 2020 qualifier, face Portugal away on Saturday and Sweden at home on Tuesday in League A, Group 3 of the Nations League.

Forss put the visitors ahead against the run of play, beating keeper Steve Mandanda from close range with Finland’s first attempt of the game in the 28th minute.

Valakari doubled the tally three minutes later with a superb 20-metre curled shot.

Deschamps replaced Olivier Giroud with Anthony Martial in the 57th minute and the hugely disappointing Paul Pogba with Ngolo Kante, but the changes had little effect.

Finland have now won four of their last five matches.

Elsewhere on Wednesday night, the Netherlands drew 1-1 at home to Spain in a friendly after Donny van de Beek cancelled out an earlier strike from Sergio Canales.

Netherlands’ Manchester City defender Nathan Ake was forced off early in the game with a muscle injury while Spain’s Jose Gaya also came off in the first half, after a clash of heads with Hans Hateboer.

Canales struck his first goal for Spain to open the scoring in the 19th minute, latching on to a pass from Alvaro Morata and firing low into the net.

Manchester United midfielder Van de Beek levelled early in the second half, beating Spain’s debutant keeper Unai Simon at the near post.

Luis Enrique’s side had dominated the first half but the Netherlands bossed the second and missed two clear chances to win the match.

Simon thwarted captain Memphis Depay from close range with a low dive but the forward should really have put the chance away, while Luuk de Jong spurned a late foray into the area, losing control of the ball and allowing Spain’s defenders to get back.

A new-look Germany side earned a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic in a friendly on Wednesday but wasted a bagful of chances and failed to impress as they prepare to face Ukraine and Spain in the Nations League.

Germany coach Joachim Loew, who rested key players ahead of the Nations League games, fielded a 3-4-3 formation with Philip Max and Ridle Baku earning their first caps and adding pace to the team in the first half.

Pedro Neto and Paulinho both scored on their Portugal debuts as the European champions unsurprisingly routed Andorra 7-0 in a friendly on Wednesday while Cristiano Ronaldo was also on target

REUTERS