LONDON: It was a night of European football to forget for England, and one to remember for Andorra.

England conceded a late goal against the Czech Republic on Friday and paid the price with their first defeat in a qualifying game in 10 years, while France and Portugal made progress in their bids for places at next year’s European Championship.

As for Andorra, they ended a 56-match losing streak.

A goal five minutes from the end halted England’s unbeaten streak in qualifying for a major competition with the Czechs beating Gareth Southgate’s team 2-1. A victory in Prague would have secured a spot for England at the finals with three games to go.

Instead, England squandered a one-goal lead and lost its first match in European or World Cup qualifying since falling to Ukraine in 2009. That loss came with England already qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Their last meaningful defeat in qualifying was against Croatia in 2007.

“I think we have had a lot of credit over the last couple of years and tonight we did not do enough,” England manager Gareth Southgate told ITV. “Our performance was not good enough, it’s as simple as that. The goals we conceded were typical of the chances we gave away.”

Harry Kane converted a fifth-minute penalty after Raheem Sterling was clipped by Lukas Masopust, the Tottenham Hotspur striker taking his qualifying tally to seven goals.

But Czech Republic, humbled 5-0 by England in the reverse fixture last March, levelled shortly after as Jakub Brabec bundled in from a corner for his first international goal.

Substitute Zdenek Ondrasek swept home the winner on his debut for the hosts on 85 minutes, a goal that ended England’s decade-long unbeaten run in qualifying spanning 43 matches.

“I just wanted to hit the ball right and put it in the net,” said Ondrasek. “I saw tears in the eyes of my father probably for the first time in my life. It’s a great win and great feeling.”

England had won all four of their previous games in Group ‘A’. They are tied atop the standings with the Czechs on 12 points but have one more game to play. Group strugglers Bulgaria and Montenegro drew 0-0.

England could still clinch qualification on Monday with victory in Bulgaria if Kosovo fail to beat Montenegro.

The top two teams of each group advance automatically. The other four qualifiers will come through four tiers of playoffs in March.

Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 94th goal for Portugal to help the defending European champions brush aside Luxembourg 3-0 in Lisbon.

Bernardo Silva opened the scoring in Lisbon in the first half before Ronaldo added a second on 65 minutes with a magnificent chip following an error in the visitors’ defence.

Goncalo Guedes added a late third although defending champions Portugal still trail Group ‘B’ leaders Ukraine by five points.

Unbeaten Ukraine have 16 points. Portugal have 11, ahead of Serbia with seven. Both Portugal and Serbia have one more game to play than Ukraine.

Portugal next travel to Kiev to face a Ukraine side on the cusp of qualification following a 2-0 home win over Lithuania secured by Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi’s brace.

“We are already thinking about the crucial game with Ukraine, like we did for this one,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos. “There are four finals left and this one is over. We want to finish first.”

World champions France and Turkey both took big steps in qualifying with wins which consolidated their Group ‘H’ lead.

Olivier Giroud scored to help France earn a hard-fought 1-0 win at Iceland, while Turkey needed a 90th-minute goal from Cenk Tosun to push it past Albania 1-0 in Istanbul.

Both France and Turkey have 18 points. Iceland, the revelation of Euro 2016, are in third place with 12 points and at risk of missing the 2020 edition.

France hos Turkey at Stade de France on Monday.

Giroud converted a penalty in the 66th after a foul earned by Antoine Griezmann. Giroud set up Griezmann by heading down a long ball for his fellow forward, who was then fouled by Iceland’s Ari Freyr Skulason.

Giroud has played sparingly for Chelsea this season but the 33-year-old is now just four goals behind Michel Platini (41) for second on France’s list of all-time leading scorers.

“It was very difficult, a really hard match. We needed to take the three points and now we have an important game coming up at home,” said Griezmann. “We’re going to suffer against Turkey and we’ll need to prepare well for it.”

Andorra made history of their own in Group ‘H’ with a 1-0 win over Moldova, the first time the tiny mountainous nation had avoided defeat in 57 European qualifiers.

Midfielder Marc Vales headed in the Andorran goal in the 63rd after Moldova had been reduced to 10 men.

Andorra, with fewer than 80,000 residents nestled in the Pyrenees between Spain and France, had lost all 56 of its previous games in European qualifying.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019