A
thunderous first-half strike from Paul Pogba handed France a 1-0 win in their
top-of-the-bill clash with the Netherlands to go top of Uefa World Cup qualifying group A on Monday night.
After his
rather underwhelming display in the 4-1 win over Bulgaria on Friday drew the
criticism of Les Blues coach Didier Deschamps, Pogba responded in style with a
rasping drive from 25 metres out that beat Maarten Stekelenburg in goal for the
Netherlands.
It was an
all round brilliant performance from the world’s most expensive footballer, who
came close to doubling his tally with a header off a Dimitri Payet corner on 66
minutes.
Victory takes
France joint top on seven points with Sweden, who were 3-0 winners over
Bulgaria in Solna.
Elsewhere,
Belgium and Portugal were in devastation mode against minnows Gibraltar and the
Faroe Islands, who suffered 6-0 defeats each.
Christian
Benteke set a new World Cup record for the fastest goal ever – after just seven
seconds – on his way to a hat-trick in Gibraltar for the Red Devils who now top
Group H on nine points out of nine, ahead of Greece on goal difference.
Portugal,
already playing catch-up to group B leaders Switzerland, equalled their 6-0 win
over Andorra on Friday.
Andre Silva
netted a hat-trick for the European champions before further goals from captain
Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Cancelo and Joao Moutinho completed the rout.
Switzerland
continued their impressive form with a 2-1 win at Andorra with goals in either
half from Fabian Schaer and Admir Mehmedi.
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