France struck early through Michael Olise and sealed the points with a late Kylian Mbappé breakaway to open their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Wroclaw, Poland.
Mbappé’s 82nd-minute strike, set up by his Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni at the end of a rapid counterattack, took the forward to 51 international goals, drawing him level with Thierry Henry in second place on France’s all-time scoring list behind Olivier Giroud, who has scored 57.
Olise gave them the lead after 10 minutes, sliding in a Bradley Barcola pass, and only the sharp reflexed of Ukraine’s goalkeeper, Anatoliy Trubin, prevented further damage as he denied Olise a second.
Ukraine, who had threatened early with dangerous crosses into the box, came alive after the hour. Ibrahima Konaté cleared off the line from Ivan Kalyuzhnyi before Illia Zabarnyi struck a post.
But once Mbappé sprinted clear to deliver the killer blow with a low drive, Didier Deschamps’s side were able to see out the closing minutes with comfort. Liverpool’s new signing Hugo Ekitiké earned his first cap as a late substitute.
“We mastered the first half and could have scored one more, then we struggled briefly but we have so much attacking quality. We had much to lose, so it’s good to start this campaign with a win,” said Deschamps.
Mbappé echoed his manager’s comments. “We could have scored more, I, myself, missed a few, so there is room for improvement. But it’s a good, solid start,” he said.
The result gives the 2018 world champions an early edge in Group D against the toughest opposition. The group also includes Iceland and Azerbaijan. France host Iceland, who destroyed Azerbaijan 5-0, in Paris on Tuesday, while Ukraine travel to Baku.
Italy opened Gennaro Gattuso’s reign as coach with a 5-0 home win over Estonia in World Cup qualifying, wasting chances for almost an hour before exploding in the final stages of the second half to turn dominance into a rout.
The spotlight was on the new coach, with Gattuso’s side on the back foot in Group I after a 3-0 defeat in Norway in June that cost coach Luciano Spalletti his job.
Italy controlled the first half and carved out several chances, but the opener proved elusive as Estonia’s goalkeeper, Karl Hein, brilliantly tipped Mateo Retegui’s header on to the bar just before the break in Italy’s biggest chance of the half. The hosts maintained their dominance after the break, but Hein produced a series of reaction saves to frustrate Italy’s pursuit of a breakthrough.
Two minutes before the hour mark, relief swept through the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo as Moise Kean broke the deadlock for Italy, nodding home from close range after Retegui’s deft back-heel flick lobbed a cross perfectly into his path.
Retegui doubled the lead in the 69th minute with a precise finish that crept inside the post, before Giacomo Raspadori added a third a minute later with a diving header. A minute from time, Retegui grabbed his second of the night with a close-range header, before Alessandro Bastoni added Italy’s fifth deep into stoppage time.
Italy now turn to Monday’s decisive clash against Israel in Hungary. For the four-time World Cup winners Italy, the domestic pressure has been immense to secure a place at the upcoming tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico, after missing the last two editions.
Italy sit third in their group on six points from three games, with Norway leading on 12 and Israel – who won 4-0 away to Moldova on Friday - in second with nine points, both having played a match more.
In Group B, the Slovenia substitute Zan Vipotnik grabbed a 90th-minute equaliser to give his side a 2-2 draw at home to Sweden in their opening qualifier, which the visitors were controlling until a blunder by the goalkeeper Robin Olsen.
The Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga put the Swedes in front in the 18th minute, running at the Slovenia defence before passing to Brighton’s Yasin Ayari, who played him in behind for a close-range finish. However, Slovenia levelled in the first minute of the second half as Olsen somehow spilled a tame drive from Sandi Lovric into the net.
Ayari looked to have redeemed his keeper when he bundled the ball into the net in the 73rd minute. Sweden’s coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson, then resisted the urge to bring on Alexander Isak, who made a British record £125m transfer this week from Newcastle to Liverpool. He may regret not doing so as Slovenia came back again, with Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko teeing up Vipotnik to thump the ball into the net to claim a point. In the same group, Switzerland opened with a 4-0 cruise past Kosovo.
In Scotland’s group, Greece thumped Belarus 5-1 in Piraeus. The prodigy Konstantinos Karetsas opened the scoring as Greece took top spot in Group C, with their main rivals Denmark and Scotland playing out a goalless draw.
Czech Republic tightened their grip at the top of Group L with a 2-0 victory over Montenegro, although second-placed Croatia kept up the pressure by edging past the Faroe Islands 1-0.
Morocco became the first African country to book a place at next year’s World Cup finals on Friday with a 5-0 victory at home to Niger ensuring they top their group. Morocco won a sixth successive game in the qualifiers with two goals from Ismael Saibari and one each from Ayoub El Kaabi, Hamza Igamane and Azzedine Ounahi in Rabat. They are the only side across the nine African qualifying groups with a 100% record.
