France was also unable to convert the second game in the Nations League into a victory on Monday. The reigning world champion did not go further than a 1-1 draw on a visit to Croatia.
Due to the draw in the reprise of the 2018 World Cup final, France remains third in group 1 of division A with one point. The last winner of the tournament started the Nations League on Friday in the Stade de France with a surprising defeat against Denmark (1 -2).
Just like in the match against Denmark, the visit to Croatia for France did not go smoothly. With no fewer than ten changes in the starting eleven, the team of national coach Didier Deschamps made an uninspired impression for quite some time.
Despite the difficult game, France, which took office without Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema, among others, took the lead shortly after the break. Wissam Ben Yedder sent Adrien Rabiot into the depths, after which the midfielder shot in with the inside of the foot: 0-1.
Rabiot’s goal seemed to be the winning goal, until Andrej Kramaric scored from the penalty spot seven minutes before time. The attacker was allowed to build after a long VAR deliberation, after he himself was tapped in the penalty area by French substitute Jonathan Clauss.
The other match in group 1 of division A between Austria and Denmark is currently still underway. The duel in the Ernst Happel Stadium was initially supposed to start at 8.45 pm, but was postponed by an hour and a half because the light poles were not working due to a power failure.
Luka Modric played his 150th international match against France.
Luka Modric played his 150th international match against France. Photo: Reuters
Suslov and Bozenik can’t avoid defeat
In group 3 of division B, Slovakia lost at home against Kazakhstan. After almost half an hour of play, Aslan Darabayev opened the score, after which Slovakia went on a vain hunt for the equalizer with substitutes Tomás Suslov (FC Groningen) and Róbert Bozeník (Düsseldorf, hired from Feyenoord).
The other group 3 match between Belarus and Azerbaijan ended in a goalless draw. The game was played in Serbia, because Belarus, as an ally of Russia, is not allowed to play duels in its own country as a punishment for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
For the same reason, only one game was played in division B. Israel-Russia was canceled due to the exclusion of the Russians, while the match between Iceland and Albania ended in a draw (1-1).
View the results, the program and the standings in the Nations League