Aleksandar Mitrović‘s prolific season continued on Saturday as he plundered a hat-trick for Serbia.
The big man hit a quick equaliser to cancel out Sweden’s opener in Belgrade, before putting his side in the ascendency with goals either side of the break.
Sasa Lukic added another to make it 4-1, a result that moved Serbia level with Norway at the top of Nations League B, Group 4.
João Palhinha came on in the 77th minute of Portugal’s comfortable win in the Czech Republic.
His side were already three goals up by that point thanks to Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot (2) and Bruno Fernandes, with fellow substitute Diogo Jota going on to add a fourth.
A home defeat for Spain by Switzerland – for whom Kevin Mbabu was an unused substitute – means Portugal top League A, Group 2 by two points, ahead of the final match between the European heavyweights on Tuesday.
Friday saw Neeskens Kebano captain the Democratic Republic of Congo, only for the winger to be substituted after 20 minutes having picked up a knock, which we will hope was precautionary.
Congo went on to lose the friendly with Burkina Faso 1-0.
On Thursday, Dan James played the entirety of Wales’ defeat in Belgium.
The hosts dominated the first half and deservedly led 2-0, but Wales were much improved after the break and halved the deficit, but could not quite muster an equaliser.
Luke Harris will have to wait for his debut, though was named on the bench for the match.
Marek Rodák was in goal for Slovakia’s highly frustrating home defeat by Azerbaijan.
Having equalised with a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time at the end of the game, Slovakia then conceded a winner moments later, meaning they dropped below their opponents in the League C, Group 3 standings.
Kieron Bowie got himself on the scoresheet in his first start for Scotland Under-21s last week. His excellent header helped his side cruise to a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland. He didn’t feature in their most recent rematch, which finished 1-1.
Connor McAvoy featured in both games at the heart of defence, while Ibane Bowat was called up for their second international game.
Devan Tanton got 90 minutes under his belt for Columbia Under-20s, who got their international break off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over Dominican Republic. He’ll be hoping to get more experience on Wednesday, when the two sides take part in a rematch.
George Okkas was also involved, but for Cyprus Under-21s. They were held to a 2-2 draw against Malta on Saturday, despite going two goals up.
