Portugal loses to Switzerland in the Nations League, Spain tops the group
Portugal’s failure, after letting Ronaldo skip the last match of a long season, led Spain to take first place in Group 2 with a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the top league A.
Goals halfway through each half from Carlos Soler and Pablo Sarabia lifted Spain one point ahead of Portugal after four rounds. The last two rounds will be played in September.
Portugal had gone undefeated in five matches this year with two wins in their World Cup qualifying final in March and including a 4-0 rap against the Swiss last weekend.
The Swiss had gone the other way with five games without a win since qualifying for the World Cup before group rival Italy in November.
Portugal barely had time to miss Ronaldo, or touch the ball much, when he ended up under within a minute. A prompt block by Xherdan Shaqiri saved the home team that time.
That got Seferović, who plays in Portugal for Benfica, to control a nod in the bottom corner of the net.
Shaqiri prepared to take a penalty 10 minutes later, after his post hit left-back Nuno Mende’s hand, but a video review found a foul in the center circle of the build-up.
Starting on the bench after a tiring season in England and the Champions League, Bernardo Silva and Diogo Jota were sent off after an hour and within a few seconds Silva hit a shot that was hit by the Swiss goalkeeper Jonas Omlin.
Omlin impressed with eight saves but almost gave Silva a goal on the 67th. His misjudged pass from goalmouth bounced back from Portugal’s forward close enough to the goalkeeper that he could dive on the loose ball.
Erling Haaland made it a 42-goal season in all competitions by making another double against Sweden to lead Norway to a 3-2 victory over its Nordic rival.
The striker, who recently signed for Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund, also netted twice against Sweden on Sunday in a 2-1 victory for Norway in the first of the teams’ double paintings this month in League B.
A week later in Oslo, Haaland ran in front of a defender to head home his first goal in the 10th minute and converted a penalty early in the second half to 2-0.
The 21-year-old star now has 20 goals in 21 senior internationals, of which 13 have been scored this season. Haaland also got 29 for Dortmund.
Emil Forsberg curled a shot into the top corner to reduce the disadvantage for Sweden, only for Haaland to curl over a post that was met by Alexander Sørloth’s nod on the far post.
Sweden’s second goal, from Viktor Gyökeres, came in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time.
Norway leads Group 4 on 10 points, three points ahead of Serbia who squandered a lead of two goals in the first half of Slovenia to 2-2.
A Bulgarian team whose bus was involved in a traffic accident shortly after arriving in Georgia made a 0-0 draw in Tbilisi.
Midfielder Todor Nedelev underwent a successful operation for a head injury that he sustained in the crash last Friday.
Georgia leads Group 4 at the third level with three points from Northern Macedonia who last beat Gibraltar 4-0.
Group 2 leader Greece beat second-placed Kosovo 2-0 to give coach Guy Poyet’s team a six-point lead in the table.
Northern Ireland and Cyprus remained unbeaten in the group and have two points each after their draw 2-2 in Belfast. Defender Jonny Evans equalized for the hosts deep in stoppage time.
In League D, Malta beat San Marino 1-0.
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