Finland shock France, Portugal cruise

 

Finland beat France 2-0 in an international friendly Wednesday to ruin the debut of Marcus Thuram.

Thuram was picked by Didier Deschamps for the friendly at the Stade de France over 22 years after his dad won the World Cup at the same ground, but he could not stop the Finns from coming out on top.

The 23-year-old hit the bar with less than 15 minutes gone and soon after flashed a difficult volley over as he and Lucas Digne caused continual problems down the left flank for the away side.

However, Marcus Forss stunned the hosts when he collected the ball after a Moussa Sissoko mistake and rammed home at Steve Mandanda’s near post.

France barely had any time to react before Onni Valakari doubled the away side’s lead with a stunning effort after being left to stroll towards goal.

Deschamps brought on Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and N’Golo Kante just before the hour mark but could not break down the well-organised Finns.

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his quest to snatch the all-time record for most international goals when he struck his 102nd Portugal goal in their in a 7-0 win over Andorra.

France’s opponents on Saturday in what could be a Nations League A, Group 3 decider strolled post their weak opponents in Lisbon despite not starting a single player from the team that beat Sweden 3-0 last month.

Italy extended their unbeaten streak to 20 games after a second-string line-up comfortably beat Estonia a 4-0.

Frank de Boer’s wait for a first win as Netherlands coach goes on after his team drew 1-1 with Spain in a friendly in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

A first-half goal by Benfica striker Luca Waldschmidt sealed Germany a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic, while two Michy Batshuayi goals helped Belgium to a 2-1 victory over Switzerland.