England ease past Albania, Spain win late in Georgia & more

We’re now well into the international break. That’s a good thing if you’re not a fan of World Cup qualifiers, with top flight league football set to return next week, but if national team fixtures are more your bag, you’ve still got a few more days of action to lap up.

There was plenty of football to get through on Sunday, with England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy among the teams in action.

Here’s your roundup for the World Cup qualifiers.

England made light work of Albania on Sunday evening as goals from Harry Kane and Mason Mount secured their second win in Group I.

A slow start and one major chance for the hosts aside, the Three Lions were rarely troubled and the victory keeps them on top in the group before Wednesday’s clash with Poland at Wembley.

You can find Matt O’Connor-Simpson’s player ratings here.

Current world champions France secured their first win in Group D by disposing of Kazakhstan.

Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring in the 19th minute before Sergiy Maliy’s own goal doubled Les Bleus’ advantage, while Kylian Mbappe came off the bench and missed a penalty in the second half.

Max Parsons’ player ratings are here.

You would think European heavyweights Spain would have more than enough to see off lowly Georgia, wouldn’t you?

You’d be wrong. Sunday’s affair between the two nations was too close for comfort for Luis Enrique’s visitors, who only snatched the win late on courtesy of Dani Olmo’s 91st minute winner.

La Roja had gone behind earlier on when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia struck, with Manchester City’s Ferran Torres equalising ten minutes after the restart. Kudos to Jordi Alba, who provided both assists for Spain’s goals.

Italy registered a second consecutive 2-0 victory as they eased past Group C rivals Bulgaria.

Andrea Belotti rattled in a penalty shortly before half time, with Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli curling home late in the second half.

Roberto Mancini’s side face Lithuania next on Wednesday.

Germany made it two wins from two games in Group J with a slender 1-0 victory over Romania, Serge Gnabry grabbing the game’s only goal.

The Bayern Munich star tapped in from Kai Havertz’s incisive pass across goal for his 15th goal in just his 19th international appearance.

You can find Max Parsons’ ratings here.

Scotland managed a second draw in Group F when they came from behind to earn a point in Israel.

Playing in a front of a small crowd in Tel Aviv, Steve Clarke’s side fell behind when Dor Peretz smacked in a scorcher from range. The visitors pulled level when Ryan Fraser gathered Che Adams’ pass and curled low inside the left-hand post from the edge of the box.

Next up for the Scots is a home fixture with the Faroe Islands.

Group B

Georgia 1-2 Spain
Kosovo 0-3 Sweden

Group C

Bulgaria 0-2 Italy
Switzerland 1-0 Lithuania

Group D

Kazakhstan 0-2 France
Ukraine 1-1 Finland

Group F

Denmark 8-0 Moldova
Austria 3-1 Faroe Islands
Israel 1-1 Scotland

Group I

Albania 0-2 England
San Marino 0-3 Hungary
Poland 3-0 Andorra

Group J

Armenia 2-0 Iceland
Romania 0-1 Germany
North Macedonia 5-0 Liechtenstein