International Roundup: Argentina & Spain Cruise While France Scrape Draw Against Iceland

We don’t want it, we wish it wouldn’t pop up every so often. But the international break is here again and we’re going to enjoy it. Well, we’re going to try.

For those of you who didn’t try but are still interested in scorelines and what have you, 90min have you covered. So keep reading to get the lowdown on Thursday’s happenings where international football is concerned.

Scotland went up against Israel and took a first half lead through Charlie Mulgrew. But the Israelis would strike back in the second half, scoring two goals – one of them helped into the back of his own net by Kieran Tierney – on either side of John Souttar seeing red.

Portugal beat Poland despite the latter going ahead on 18 minutes, with Adrien Silva and Bernardo Silva both scoring to add to Kamil Glik’s own goal. 

Jakup Blaszsykowski added to Krysztof Piatek’s first half strike to get Poland to within one, but the Euro 16 winners were able to hold on to their slim lead until the final whistle.

Argentina had little trouble dispatching Iraq. La Albiceleste hit four unanswered goals past their opposition, going ahead through Lautaro Martinez’s 18th-minute strike. Roberto Pereyra, German Pezzella and Franco Cervi piled on the rest to end the affair at 4-0.

Spain came up big against Wales as well, thrashing them 4-1 as  Borussia Dortmund star Paco Alcacer scored twice, with  Sergio Ramos and Marc Bartra chipping in. Sam Vokes scored a consolation goal for the Welsh during the last minute of regular time, but Spain were well and truly cruising by then.

Iceland and World Cup holders France squared off on the night, too. And, rather unexpectedly, Erik Hamren’s side took a 1-0 lead into half-time off of Birkir Bjarnason’s 30th-minute strike. Kari Arnason doubled the lead for the Icelandic side 13 minutes into the second half.

However, the world champs stormed back for a 2-2 draw courtesy of a Holmar Eyjolfsson own goal and a 90th-minute penalty from Kylian Mbappe.

Turkey and Bosnia played out to a goalless draw, as did Russia and Sweden, but the in-form Aleksandar Mitrovic scored both goals for Serbia as they beat Montenegro 2-0.

So if you’re thinking of catching some more international footy on Friday, how does Belgium against Switzerland or Croatia versus England sound?