Incredible Hugo save caps busy week so far

It was a good night on the international stage for captain Hugo Lloris on Thursday as he produced a string of top-quality saves during France’s 2-2 home draw with Iceland.

Birkir Bjarnason opened the scoring in the friendly on 30 minutes with a well-placed strike from outside the box and Iceland could have been 2-0 up before half-time, but France had Hugo to thank after the keeper pulled off a spectacular quadruple save to keep the deficit to just one.

Kari Arnason did double Iceland’s lead just before the hour mark, however, with a bullet header from a well-worked corner and his nation looked to be on their way to what would have been their first ever win over the French national side, but a late own goal from Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson and an even later penalty from Kylian Mbappe made it 13 games unbeaten for Les Bleus.

In the early hours of this morning (Friday), Davison Sanchez’s Colombia overcame Cameron Carter-Vickers’ USA 4-2 in a friendly match in Florida, which featured a superb solo effort from Bayern Munich’s James Rodriguez. While Cameron was an unused substitute in the game, Davinson played the entire match and saw his side take the lead in the first half through Rodriguez’s wonder goal. The USA fought back and turned the game on its head with two quick goals from Kellyn Acosta and Booby Wood at the start of the second half but Carlos Bacca quickly replied and then goals from Radamel Falcao and Miguel Angel Borja sealed the win for the South Americans.

Ben Davies earned his 42nd cap as he played 62 minutes on Thursday night in Wales’ 4-1 home defeat to Spain to the UEFA Nations League. Two goals from Paco Alcacer and a strike from Sergio Ramos gave Spain a 3-0 lead at half-time before Marc Barta grabbed a fourth with 16 minutes to play. Sam Vokes grabbed a late consolation as Ben’s Welsh side fell to their first competitive defeat under manager Ryan Giggs.

Juan Foyth was an unused substitute as Argentina romped to 4-0 win over Iraq in Saudi Arabia with goals from Lautaro Martínez, Roberto Pereyra, Germán Pezzella and Franco Cervi separating the sides while young full-back Kyle Walker-Peters played the full 90 minutes as England Under-21s booked their place in next year’s European Under-21 Championship finals with an emphatic 7-0 win over Andorra at Chesterfield’s Proact Stadium. Josh Onomah, currently on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, was an unused substitute for the Young Lions. Elsewhere, TJ Eyoma was an unused substitute in England Under-19s’ 4-1 win in Portugal.

On Wednesday, Victor Wanyama was part of the Kenya side that drew 0-0 away to Ethiopia in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying while young striker Troy Parrott played the full 90 minutes and scored from the spot as Republic of Ireland Under-19s began their European Under-19 Championship qualifying campaign with a 3-1 home win against Bosnia & Herzegovina. Fellow Under-18s players Maxi Tainio and Luis Binks were on the bench for Finland Under-19s and Scotland Under-18s respectively, Finland battling out a goalless home draw with Denmark in a Euro qualifier and Scotland drawing 1-1 with Uzbekistan in Malaga.

England are among the senior teams in action this evening as they take on Croatia in the UEFA Nations League (7.45pm) but they’ll be without the services of left-back Danny Rose, who has withdrawn from the squad with a minor injury.