LONDON —
Croatia and the Netherlands booked their places in the last four of the Nations
League as holders France needed a favor to avoid relegation from the top tier
on Sunday.
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Les Bleus lost
2–0 in Denmark to finish with just one win from their six group games, but
Croatia’s 3–1 win at Austria saved the world champions from the drop.
Didier Deschamps
will be hoping to have a number of key men back from injury by the time
France’s defense of the World Cup begins against Australia on November 22.
“It was a young
French team, which for the most part does not yet have experience of the
highest level,” said Deschamps.
“Tonight is a
dose of reality and what will be waiting for us in two months.”
France will also
come up against the Danes in the group stage in Qatar, and the Euro 2020
semifinalists showed they are more than capable of causing more trouble in two
months’ time.
Both goals came
before half-time as
Kasper Dolberg stretched to turn home Mikkel Damsgaard’s
cross before Andreas Skov Olsen volleyed in from the edge of the area.
France were
without Hugo Lloris, Jules Kounde, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembele
and Karim Benzema through injury.
But the star
trio of Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, and Kylian Mbappe failed to find a
way back into the game for France.
Denmark’s win
meant Croatia needed to get all three points in Austria to top the group.
Luka Modric got
the 2018 World Cup finalists off to a flying start, but they were quickly
pegged back by Christoph Baumgartner’s header.
Two goals in
three second-half minutes proved decisive as Marko Livaja and Dejan Lovren
headed in at the far post.
Defeat relegated
Austria to League B.
The Netherlands
made sure of top spot in Group A4 with a 1–0 win over Belgium thanks to Virgil
van Dijk’s header 17 minutes from time..
In the same
group, Wales were relegated after losing 1–0 at home to Poland. Turkey were
already guaranteed promotion from League C, but were still embarrassed by a 2–1
defeat to the Faroe Islands.
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