Nine of our players were in action for their nations on Thursday night, with Takuma Asano scoring for Japan and Sead Kolasinac providing an assist for Bosnia.
Here’s the full round-up of how they fared:
Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud, Alexandre Lacazette
France 4-0 Netherlands
Thursday, August 31
Laurent and Olivier started, and Alex came off the bench to help France to an important World Cup qualifier win in Saint-Denis.
Olivier set up Antoine Griezmann’s early opener before two Thomas Lemar goals and one from Kylian Mbappe - who replaced Olivier after 76 minutes - put the seal on a comprehensive victory.
Alex replaced Kingsley Coman after 80 minutes, while Laurent played the whole match despite suffering a kick to the ankle during the second half.
Sead Kolasinac
Cyprus 3-2 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Thursday, August 31
Sead Kolasinac provided an impressive assist - but Bosnia surrendered a two-goal lead in their World Cup qualifier in Cyprus.
Toni Sunjic gave the visitors the lead before Edin Vista volleyed home following Sead’s powerful run and inviting cross.
The game turned on its head after the break though, as Dimitris Christofi, Vincent Laban and Pieros Sotiriou scored in the space of 11 minutes to give Cyprus victory.
Granit Xhaka
Switzerland 3-0 Andorra
Thursday, August 31
Granit Xhaka started and played 66 minutes of Switzerland’s routine World Cup qualifier win at home to Andorra.
Haris Seferovic scored either side of half-time before Stephan Lichtsteiner completed the scoring shortly after Granit was replaced by Denis Lemi Zakaria.
Takuma Asano
Japan 2-0 Australia
Thursday, August 31
Takuma Asano opened the scoring in Japan’s World Cup qualifier win against Australia.
The forward volleyed home Yuto Nagatomo’s inswinging cross just before the break, with Yosuke Ideguchi doubling the advantage late on.
David Ospina
Venezuela 0-0 Colombia
Thursday, August 31
David Ospina kept a clean sheet in San Cristobal to help move Colombia one step closer to the World Cup in Russia.
Alexis
Chile 0-3 Paraguay
Thursday, August 31
Alexis played the full 90 minutes of Chile’s World Cup qualifier defeat to Paraguay. Arturo Vidal’s own goal gave the visitors the lead before half-time, with Victor Caceres and Richard Ortiz completing the scoring after the break.
Chile are now fourth in South American qualifying, with the top four teams automatically reaching the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Mohamed Elneny
Uganda 1-0 Egypt
Thursday, August 31
Mohamed Elneny played the duration of Egypt’s World Cup qualifier defeat against Uganda. Emmanuel Okwi scored the game’s only goal, converting Murushidi Jjuko’s pass just after half-time to give the hosts three points.
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