In the European Championship qualifying round, England and France won four in a row thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé, while Switzerland lost its opening point.
Kane scored twice as England destroyed North Macedonia 7-0 at home, and Mbappé converted his second-chance penalty as the Les Bleus defeated Greece 1-0.In a 2-2 home tie with Romania, the Swiss, who were in control, gave up two late goals.
At the age of 24, Mbappé's two successful penalty kicks in the second half put him on 40 goals for Les Bleus, one below fellow great Michel Platini, while Kane's record-extending 57th and 58th goals for England opened and ended the scoring, respectively. Marcus Rashford, a forward for Manchester United, Kane, and Bukayo Saka all scored goals for England at Old Trafford.Saka, a member of Premier League runner-up Arsenal, scored three goals.In Lucerne, second-placed Romania scored in the 89th and extra time thanks to substitute Valentin Mihaila.
Group B: Mbappé broke the national record for club and country set by the late Just Fontaine in the 1957-58 season, the same year that Fontaine set an individual scoring record with 13 goals at the '58 World Cup, with his 54th goal overall for France and Paris Saint-Germain this season.
GROUP C: After a head-on collision early on, Kane and defender Stefan Ristovski required medical attention.By the 29th minute, Kane had recovered his balance and was converting a close-range cross from Luke Shaw.Before Kane's penalty, Kalvin Phillips, a replacement midfielder, scored after Rashford and Saka scored three goals. Ukraine trails England by six points.
GROUP D: Turkey jumped ahead of Croatia in the standings with a 2-0 victory over semifinalist Wales at home while Croatia was competing in the Nations League.The Welsh were in disarray after losing to Armenia 4–2 at home when Umut Nayir and Arda Güler scored goals in the final 20 minutes.
GROUP H: After their 1-1 draw in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Euro 2020 semifinalist Denmark were tied for first place with Finland and Kazakhstan with nine points each. Rasmus Hjlund scored his sixth goal in qualification to tie the score in the 42nd minute after Slovenian striker Andraz Sporar gave Slovenia the lead in the 25th. San Marino fell to Finland, who defeated them 6-0. With 30 minutes remaining, forward Daniel Hkans came off the bench and promptly scored three goals in the second half.
GROUP I: Switzerland appeared to be headed for triumph number four.Zeki Amdouni, a forward, scored his fourth and fifth goals in qualification to give Switzerland the lead at the half. Romania, however, shocked the Swissporarena supporters in Lucerne by remaining unblemished and in the race.
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