National Teams

TBILISI — Spain striker Dani Olmo snatched a 2-1 win away to Georgia in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday with a stoppage-time strike from outside the area to kick-start his side's efforts to qualify for Qatar 2022 after a sluggish start.

Georgia, ranked 89th in the world, 83 places below Spain, thrilled the 15,000 fans in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena when 20-year-old winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fired them ahead two minutes before halftime after they coasted past the defence.

After over two years away from the France national team, Ousmane Dembélé is back in the side and back on the scoresheet in France's 2-0 win over Kazakhstan on Sunday. 

Before this week's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine, the 23-year-old's last appearance for Les Bleus had come in November 2018. A series of injuries and the form of other attackers had seen Didier Deschamps either unable or unwilling to select the Barcelona forward. Since his last appearance in a UEFA Nations League game against the Netherlands, Dembélé has missed more than 50 games through injury. 

Five straight friendly wins for the U.S. after it beat Northern Ireland 2-1 on Sunday, a rare victory in Europe; nine games without a loss tallying a 33-5 goal margin. The USMNT is playing better than it has in years, and while the competition hasn’t been the best, there’s an undeniable new mood around the team. 

BELGRADE — Serbia striker Aleksandar Mitrovic became his country's all-time top scorer on 39 goals from 63 international appearances after he netted in a 2-2 home draw with Portugal in a thrilling 2022 World Cup Group A qualifier on Saturday.

The Serbians fought back from two goals down to earn a share of the spoils as Fulham striker Mitrovic pulled one back in the 46th minute and Filip Kostic levelled after a Diogo Jota double had given Portugal a 2-0 lead in the first half.

Nigeria confirmed top spot in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group with a dramatic last-gasp 1-0 win away over neighbor Benin on Saturday, having already secured their place at the finals before kick off.

Nigeria’s place at the tournament in Cameroon next January was confirmed earlier on Saturday when the other two countries in Group L — Lesotho and Sierra Leone — played out a drab goalless draw in Maseru, ensuring at least a top-two finish for leaders Nigeria.

Canada’s men’s national team is guaranteed to qualify for at least its second-ever World Cup appearance in 2026 as one of three host nations (along with the U.S. and Mexico). Before that, the Canucks are trying to qualify the hard way for the 2022 World Cup. And when we say the hard way, we mean it. But after watching Alphonso Davies and his teammates torch Bermuda on Thursday, they might just be up to the task.

Over the years FIFA has been opposed to players, teams and fans engaging in protests or sloganeering but it seems global soccer's governing body is perhaps now prepared to tolerate a blurring of the line it once drew between politics and sport.

On Wednesday, Norway's national team players wore T-shirts declaring "Human rights - on and off the pitch" as they lined up before their World Cup qualifier against Gibraltar, and the following day Germany made a similar protest before its qualifier against Iceland in Duisburg.

Midfielder Christian Pulisic returned to the United States men's national team after a 17-month absence in a 4-1 win against Jamaica on Thursday in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

Sergiño Dest scored his first goal in his sixth match in the 34th minute and Brenden Aaronson made it 2-0 in the 52nd before Jamaica's Jamal Lowe halved the deficit in the 70th minute. Sebastian Lletget scored in the 83rd and 90th minutes to seal the win.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's superb 1-0 victory over more heralded neighbors Croatia in World Cup qualifying showed they are more than just a nation of Alpine skiers, defender Petar Stojanović said on Thursday.

The Slovenians outplayed the 2018 World Cup runners-up on Wednesday at the start of Group H qualifying for next year's tournament in Qatar and Stojanović, who plays his club football for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, was delighted.