England suffered their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years when they lost 2-1 away to the Czech Republic in their Euro 2020 qualifying Group A clash on Friday.
It was a fully deserved win for the Czechs. They played with verve and determination against a sluggish England who delivered their worst performance since Gareth Southgate took over as manager.
The defeat ended England’s decade-long unbeaten run in European Championship and World Cup qualifiers going back to a 1-0 loss to Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk exactly 10 years ago.
Group A’s other game between Montenegro and Bulgaria ended goalless.
European champions Portugal and high-flying Ukraine edged closer to reaching next year’s European Championship with comfortable home wins in qualifying Group B on Friday.
Ukraine sank Lithuania 2-0 to stay top of the group on 16 points from six games, followed by Portugal who are on 11 points from five matches after beating Luxembourg 3-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo among the scorers.
Third-placed Serbia have seven from five, Luxembourg have four points from six games and Lithuania are bottom with one point from six matches.
Olivier Giroud’s lack of club action proved no handicap as the Chelsea striker’s penalty earned France a 1-0 away win against Iceland to put Les Bleus closer to next year’s European Championship finals on Friday.
Giroud, who has only played 101 minutes in the Premier League this season, converted a second-half spot kick as injury-hit France stayed second in Group H behind Turkey who beat Albania 1-0 thanks to a last-gap Cenk Tosun goal.
France and Turkey, who meet at the Stade de France on Monday, have 18 points but the world champions are behind by virtue of their 2-0 loss in Konya in June.
Third-placed Iceland have 12 points, Albania nine, and Andorra are second to last on three points after beating Moldova 1-0 for their first-ever Euro qualifying points.
Friday results:
Group ACzech Republic 2 England 1 Montenegro 0 Bulgaria 0
Group BPortugal 3 Luxembourg 0 Ukraine 2 Lithuania 0
Group HAndorra 1 Moldova 0 Iceland 0 France 1 Turkey 1 Albania 0
Fixtures:
Saturday October 12Group D
Georgia v Rep of Ireland Denmark v Switzerland
Group F
Faroe Islands v Romania Norway v Spain Malta v Sweden
Group J
Bosnia & Herzegovina v Finland Liechtenstein v Armenia Italy v Greece
Sunday October 13
Group C
Belarus v Netherlands
Estonia v Germany
Group EHungary v Azerbaijan Wales v Croatia
Group G
Slovenia v Austria Poland v North Macedonia
Group IKasakhstan v Belgium Scotland v San Marino Cyprus v Russia
Monday October 14
Group AKosovo v Montenegro Bulgaria v England
Group BUkraine v Portugal Lithuania v Serbia
Group HMoldova v Albania Iceland v Andorra France v Turkey
Tuesday October 15
Group D
Switzerland v Rep of Ireland Gibraltar v Georgia
Group F
Sweden v Spain Romania v Norway Faroe Islands v Malta
Group GIsrael v Latvia
Group J
Finland v Armenia
