West Ham United’s Nikola Vlašić and Kurt Zouma enjoyed winning climaxes to their respective September international breaks on Tuesday evening.
Recent signing Vlašić completed the scoring for Croatia with a diving header as the 2018 FIFA World Cup runners-up maintained their place at the top of their 2022 qualifying group with a 3-0 home win over Slovenia.
The attacker was introduced as a substitute on 58 minutes with his country leading their Group H fixture 1-0 in his home city of Split, and hit the net in the fourth minute of added time to ensure Croatia would stay above Russia on goal difference.
The goal was the 23-year-old’s seventh in 29 appearances for Croatia, who have 13 points from six qualifying matches played, level with Russia, but with a superior goal difference of one goal, and four ahead of Slovakia in third. The group winners qualify automatically, with the runners-up going into a second round.
Croatia travel to Cyprus and host Slovakia in the next international break in October.
Elsewhere, Kurt Zouma started again for France in a 2-0 home win over Finland in Group D, which they now lead by seven points.
Earning his tenth cap, the centre-back helped Les Bleus keep a clean sheet in his home city of Lyon, where Antoine Griezmann scored both goals for the home nation.
With just five teams in their group, France complete their qualification campaign with a home tie with winless Kazakhstan and a trip to Finland in November.
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— HNS (@HNS_CFF) September 7, 2021
⚽️ #Croatia seals the victory! ?#BeProud | #CROSVN | #WCQ | #Vatreni? pic.twitter.com/lR8XSe0FnK
In African World Cup qualifying, Saïd Benrahma was introduced as a substitute with 23 minutes remaining of Algeria’s second round Group A tie with Burkina Faso in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
By then, both goals had been scored in a 1-1 draw, with former West Ham player Sofiane Feghouli on target for Algeria, who remain top of their group with four points from two matches played, ahead of Burkina Faso on goal difference.
The Desert Foxes continue their qualifying campaign with two games in October, home and away to Niger. Algeria need to finish top of their group to reach the third and final qualifying round.
Finally, Academy goalkeeper Krisztián Hegyi started Hungary’s 4-0 win in San Marino in UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying.
The Hungarians got their first points of the campaign to reach the tournament in Romania and Georgia in 2023 with a comfortable victory in Serravelle.
It was a first clean sheet at U21 level for 18-year-old Hegyi, who made his debut in a 2-1 defeat at home to Israel in Hungary’s first qualifier on 2 September.
Hungary, who sit third in Group B, continue their qualifying campaign at home to Poland and Germany in October.
