Italy edge Bosnia as Germany and France stroll

PARIS: Italy needed a late winner from Marco Verratti to defeat a determined Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 in Euro 2020 qualifying Tuesday, while Germany and France piled up the goals in lopsided victories.

Edin Dzeko fired Bosnia in front in Turin, but Lorenzo Insigne equalised shortly after half-time and Verratti curled home on 86 minutes to earn a fourth win in as many attempts for Roberto Mancini’s side in Group J.

“I expected the difficulties, but we showed the strength and the conviction to overturn it,” said Mancini.“The important thing is that we are first in the group.”

France rebounded from last weekend’s defeat in Turkey with a trouble-free 4-0 win away to minnows Andorra. “We reacted well after not playing to our usual level on Saturday against Turkey,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.

He retained just four of those who began Saturday’s 2-0 loss in Konya, handing first international starts to Kurt Zouma, Clement Lenglet and Leo Dubois. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring with a chipped finish on 11 minutes, with Wissam Ben Yedder and Florian Thauvin adding to their lead in the first half.

Zouma bundled home a fourth on the hour as France reclaimed top spot in Group H after Iceland beat Turkey 2-1 in Reykjavik to further sour the mood in the visiting camp. Turkish officials had denounced the “disrespect” shown to the team when they arrived in Iceland, unhappy at being kept waiting for several hours at passport control at the airport and subjected to extensive security checks.

Two headers in the first half by centre-back Ragnar Sigurdsson saw Iceland draw level on nine points with France as well as Turkey, for whom Dorukhan Tokoz scored a consolation. Germany made light work of Estonia as Serge Gnabry and Marco Reus fired them to a thundering 8-0 victory in Mainz.

Gnabry and Reus scored two goals each, with Leon Goretzka, Ilkay Gundogan, Timo Werner and Leroy Sane also on target, as Germany ran riot to seal a third win from three games.