10 November 2017
Juventus right back, Stephan Lichtsteiner played the full 90 minutes as Switzerland recorded a 1-0 victory away to Northern Ireland at Belfast’s Windsor Park. The only goal of the game came in the 58th minute when AC Milan’s Ricardo Rodriguez converted a second half penalty.
Despite having been an unused substitute, Mario Mandzukic will be delighted with Croatia’s 4-1 win over Greece to give them one foot in the World Cup.
The hosts got off the mark in the 13th minute, as Luka Modric scored a penalty, and then just six minutes later Croatia were two goals to the good, thanks to AC Milan’s Nikola Kalinic. The away side pulled a goal back through Sokratis Papastathopoulos, but the home team only added to their lead, with Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic scoring in the 33rd minute, before the result was capped off by Andrej Kramaric in the second half.
Both teams will reconvene for the second legs on 14 November.
Tonight, sees more Bianconeri players in World Cup qualifying action when Italy take on Sweden in Stockholm. Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele Rugani and Federico Bernardeschi are all part of the squad and could feature.
Tomorrow night, Medhi Benatia’s Morocco play away to the Ivory Coast in their final qualifying match. The Atlas Lions are top of their group by one point and if they can avoid defeat Morocco will be on the plane to Russia next year.
