Diogo Jota ended a long run without scoring by scoring in a comfortable win for Portugal, while two Liverpool youngsters recorded assists for their countries.
While Jota’s campaign has been marred by injuries so far, it has been a difficult run for the striker when he has been on the pitch, with a goal drought stretching five and a half months.
His most recent goal for Liverpool came in a 2-2 draw with Man City on 10 April, without one in his last 16 appearances at club level, eight of which have come as a starter.
For club and country, it went 20 games without scoring, until Saturday night when he came on from the bench to shoot in Portugal’s 4-0 win over the Czech Republic.
Portugal were already three goals ahead when Jota replaced Rafael Leao and, 15 minutes after coming on, sealed a four-goal win with a shot on goal from an assist from Cristiano Ronaldo to put his country top of their group. of the UEFA Nations League.
There were contrasting fortunes for two full-backs elsewhere, with Kostas Tsimikas and Conor Bradley playing all 90 minutes, the former in defeat and the latter in victory.
Tsimikas’s Greece suffered a 1-0 loss to Cyprus, while Northern Ireland recorded a late 2-1 victory over Kosovo when Bradley shone at right back.
Luis Diaz also started when Colombia met Guatemala in a friendly in New York, with the winger playing 64 minutes as goals from James Rodriguez, Luis Sinisterra, Rafael Santos Borre and Yaser Asprilla secured a 4-1 win.
On the youth stage, there were assists from Isaac Mabaya and Melkamu Frauendorf as England and Germany recorded high-scoring wins at under-19 level.
Mabaya’s curtailed assist came for Oakley Cannonier, who fired twice as England’s Under-19s thrashed Georgia 6-0, with Luke Chambers and Lee Jonas coming off the bench, while Frauendorf earned a penalty in the victory. Germany 5-1 over Belarus.
James Balagizi started and played 71 minutes as the England Under-20s beat Morocco 2-0, with Harvey Davies an unused substitute for the Young Lions.
