World champions France were given a cold shower on Saturday in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Turkey, losing 0-2.
Turkey kept up the pressure throughout the game for a home win which helped to place them in the lead in Group H.
Turkey started the game strong, scoring their first goal in the 30th minute with a header from Kaan Ayhan following Cengiz Under’s free kick into the penalty area.
Under then raised the difference in the 40th minute, slipping the ball past Hugo Lloris after a sprint down the right wing to the French goal.
Les Bleus upped the pressure in the second half of the game, but missed several chances to score due to strong defending by their opponents.
A solid performance by goalkeeper Mert Gunok also kept the world champions at bay.
Burak Yilmaz missed the chance to put Turkey further ahead in the 85th minute, sending the ball narrowly past the right post after a one-on-one with Lloris.
In other games in the group on Saturday, Iceland earned a 1-0 home win against Albania, while Moldova beat Andorra
1-0 at home.
Turkey now lead Group H with nine points, having won all three games so far.
They are followed by France then Iceland, both at six points.
Belgium eased to a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan in Brussels on Saturday to keep up their 100 percent start to the Euro 2020 qualifiers and lead the Group I standings.
Early goals from Dries Mertens and Timothy Castagne put Belgium 2-0 up inside the opening quarter hour and Romelu Lukaku added a third five minutes into the second half.
Belgium have nine points from their opening three qualifiers, ahead of Russia and Scotland who are on six points each.
Scotland’s hopes of a change of fortunes under new manager Steve Clarke looked dashed after Cyprus equalised late at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
But Oliver Burke snatched a last-minute winner to seal a 2-1 triumph.
A scorcher from captain Andy Robertson just after the hour mark had Scotland ahead, but Cyprus equalised in the 87th minute through Ioannis Kousoulos.
But the Scots grabbed back the lead through Burke’s header.
Scotland fired Alex McLeish as manager after losing in Kazakhstan and narrowly beating San Marino in their opening two matches of the campaign in March.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia recorded their biggest winning margin as Artem Dzyuba scored four in 9-0 thrashing of San Marino in Saransk, one of last year’s World Cup finals venues.
It took Russia 25 minutes, and the first of two own goals by 20-year Michele Cevoli, to get going but they were 4-0 ahead at half-time.
Dzyuba’s first goal came from the penalty kick spot and he completed his hat-trick with a follow-up after having a second spot-kick saved.
His fourth was the last goal of the one-sided win.
On Tuesday, Kazakhstan host San Marino, Scotland are in Belgium and Cyprus travel to Russia for the next round of group fixtures.
Germany eased past hosts Belarus 2-0 with goals from Leroy Sane and Marco Reus on Saturday to make it two wins from their first two Euro 2020 Group C qualifiers.
The three-times European champions, who suffered a shock 2018 FIFA World Cup first round exit last year before being relegated in the inaugural Nations League, were desperate to impress.
They needed to build on their opening qualifying win over Netherlands in March, and took a 13th minute lead when Sane shook off his marker and fired in from close range.
Belarus responded by forcing a fine save from Manuel Neuer, who punched Nikita Naumov’s 30th minute header over the bar for the hosts’ best chance in the game.
The visitors struck again, through Reus in the 62nd minute, after a clever assist from Matthias Ginter.
They also hit the post through Sane’s 84th minute header as they held on to gae dominance.
The result lifted the Germans to six points, three behind leaders Northern Ireland who beat Estonia 2-1 for their third win in three qualifiers.
Belarus suffered their third straight loss and are in last place, having scored only one goal.
“It was a solid performance on which we can build. We want to develop as a team,” said Germany assistant coach Marcus Sorg, who replaced Joachim Loew as head coach for the game.
Loew was briefly hospitalised days ago following a sports injury.
“The win was above everything. We had to overcome some challenges against a very defensive opponent. Overall, we did it well,” said Sorg, who will also be in charge in Tuesday’s qualifier against Estonia.
Earlier on Saturday, Northern Ireland came from a goal down to beat Estonia 2-1 in Tallin.
Conor Washington cancelled out the hosts’ lead, through Konstantin Vassiljev’s low first half free kick.
Fellow substitute Josh Magennis completed the turnaround in the 80th minute to keep Northern Ireland top of the standings.
They next travel to Belarus on Tuesday.
