Trio captain their countries as England draw

Eric Dier and Harry Kane both hit the woodwork, but that was as close as England went to breaking the deadlock in their UEFA Nations League visit to Croatia on Friday night.

In a rematch of this summer’s World Cup semi-final, albeit with an eerie atmosphere due to the game being played behind closed doors in Rijeka, Eric headed against the post in the first half while skipper Harry’s header struck the crossbar in the second. Harry – one of three Spurs players to captain their nations on Friday along with Serge Aurier for Ivory Coast and Heung-Min Son for South Korea – also had an effort ruled out for off-side, but the game ended without score.

Eric and Harry both completed the full 90, with Kieran Trippier and Harry Winks among the unused substitutes. In another UEFA Nations League clash, Toby Alderweireld played the full game at the back for Belgium as they beat Switzerland 2-1 in Brussels.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Lucas Moura came on as a half-time substitute for Brazil – his first international appearance since June, 2016 – as they won 2-0 away to Saudi Arabia, while Serge started for and captained Ivory Coast in their 4-0 victory at home to Central African Republic in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Son saw his second-half penalty kick saved, but still skippered South Korea to a 2-1 home win over Uruguay, the attacker completing the full friendly in Seoul.

In youth international action, Dennis Cirkin played 62 minutes for England Under-17s as they came from a goal down to beat USA 3-1 in Chester, while his Spurs Under-18s defensive colleague Luis Binks put in a full shift for Scotland Under-18s in their 1-0 defeat to France in Marbella.