Ola Toivonen took advantage of a Hugo Lloris error to score an injury-time winner from inside his own half as Sweden beat France in their World Cup qualifier in Stockholm.
The Toulouse midfielder collected a low clearance from Lloris close to the halfway line and clinically lifted the ball into the unguarded net to earn a 2-1 victory that leaves Sweden top of Group A in qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
France, who are second to Sweden on goal difference, took the lead through Olivier Giroud’s superb left-footed volley after 37 minutes, only for Jimmy Durmaz to equalise for Sweden just before half-time.
Holland moved to within three points of the top two with a 5-0 win over Luxembourg in Rotterdam. Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder gave the hosts a 2-0 lead at half-time, with Liverpool’s Gini Wijnaldum and Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen on target in the second half. Bulgaria lost ground in the race for top spot, falling to fourth in the group after losing 2-1 in Belarus.
In Group B Marc Rebes’ first-half header earned Andorra their first competitive victory since 2004 as they beat Hungary 1-0. The tiny nation’s first qualifying success since a 1-0 win over Macedonia 13 years ago was also a humiliating setback for the visitors, who topped their group at last summer’s European Championship but are now eight points adrift of second-placed Portugal.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice for the Euro 2016 winners as they won 3-0 in Latvia to keep up their pursuit of Group B leaders Switzerland. Goals from Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka and Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri earned Switzerland a 2-0 win against the Faroe Islands which extends their 100% start in qualifying to six games.
In Group H Dries Mertens and Nacer Chadli were on target for Belgium as they won 2-0 in Estonia. Mertens opened the scoring after half an hour, turning the ball home after Mihkel Aksalu had spilled Kevin de Bruyne’s right-wing cross. The hosts had Artjom Dmitrijev sent off just before half-time with the score at 1-0. Elsewhere Gibraltar were denied a first-ever point in qualifying when Pieros Sotiriou scored the winner for Cyprus in the 87th minute.
Belgium now lead their group by four points from Greece, who drew 0-0 with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bosnia forward Edin Dzeko and his Roma team-mate Konstantinos Manolas were involved in an altercation after the final whistle following a bad-tempered contest in Zenica.
