An error by France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris handed Sweden’s Ola Toivonen a last-gasp goal to secure a 2-1 win in their World Cup Group A qualifier at the Friends Arena last night.
Lloris’s poor clearance fell straight to the midfielder who lobbed the keeper from inside his own half to steal the points and delight the home fans and their celebrating players.
France had led through a superb left-foot strike by forward Olivier Giroud after 37 minutes but that was cancelled out by a precise low finish from Sweden’s Jimmy Durmaz in the 43rd.
The Swedes, who had lost 2-1 when the sides met in Paris in November, spent the opening half-hour frustrating the visitors, getting stuck in to challenges and slowing the tempo, but that all changed when Giroud scored and the game burst into life.
France brought on teenage striker Kylian Mbappe late on but it was Swedish substitute Sebastian Larsson who pressured Lloris into making the bad clearance that gave Toivonen the chance to win the game for the home side, and he took it gleefully.
The win put Sweden top of the group, level on 13 points with France and three ahead of the Netherlands, who beat visiting Luxembourg 5-0.
Wesley Sneijder marked his birthday and a record 131st appearance for the Netherlands with a goal as the Oranje beat Luxembourg 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier yesterday to stay in contention for a trip to Russia for the next edition of football’s most prestigious tournament.
The win left the Dutch in third place in Group A, three points behind co-leaders Sweden and France.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, taking his tally in the World Cup qualifiers to 11, to help them claim a somewhat flattering but important 3-0 win away to Latvia.
Portugal’s fifth successive win in Group B left them with 15 points from six games but still three behind leaders Switzerland who beat Faroe Islands 2-0 to maintain their maximum record.
Real Madrid’s Ronaldo, Portugal’s all-time leading scorer, took his tally to 73 goals for his country after another decisive performance.
Goals from Dries Mertens and Nacer Chadli allowed Belgium to outclass a resilient 10-man Estonia 2-0 in their World Cup qualifier and maintain top spot in Group H.
Belgium have a four-point lead over second placed Greece in their qualifying group and are well placed to qualify for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia.
Robben opened the scoring in the 21st minute after Wesley Hoedt had won possession and played a precise through ball for his captain to run on to.
Sneijder netted the second 13 minutes later, repaying Advocaat’s faith in starting him, after being set up by Memphis Depay.
Joel Veltman broke down the right to set up the third goal as Janssen missed out with a sliding effort but Wijnaldum was following up to finish.
Promes scored the fourth in the 70th minute, arriving unmarked at the back post to head home Stefan de Vrij’s cross.
With six minutes left Janssen was brought down by Luxembourg goalkeeper Ralph Schon and got up to hammer home the resultant spot-kick.
He looked their only real threat in the first half and scored four minutes before halftime when he stooped to head in from close range after Jose Fonte’s header hit the post.
Ronaldo scored with another easy header in the 63rd after Ricardo Quaresma’s cross was deflected into his path and then played a one-two with Andre Silva who scored the third four minutes later.