Euro 2016 winner Portugal began their 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers journey with a defeat against Switzerland while France and Netherlands finished the matchday 1 with a draw.
In the Group A encounter, Euro 2016 runner-up France were held to a goalless draw against the hosts Belarus. Despite ruling on the pitch in the whole match, France failed to net the ball in the match.
In another Group A encounter, Netherlands were held to a draw against the hosts Sweden by 1-1. Sweden preceded the scoreline by 1-0 through Marcus Berg’s goal in the 43rd minute. Wesley Sneijder evened up the scoreline for Netherlands in the 67th minute of the match.
Bulgaria beat Luxembourg by 4-3 in the other Group A match.
In the Group B battles, Switzerland beat Euro 2016 champion Portugal by 2-0 while Latvia won the away game against Andorra by 1-0. Faroe Island and Hungary match ended in a goalless draw.
Ronaldo-less Portugal began their 2018 WC Qualifiers journey with a defeat against Switzerland. Breel Embolo and Admir Mehmedi scored the two goals for the hosts Switzerland in the 23’ and 30’ respectively. Despite that Portugal took total 27 shots, only 2 were on target. It the injury time of the second half in the match, Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka was shown second yellow card and in turn a red card with an immediate effect. Xhaka was showed his first yellow card in this match on 71 minutes.
Hosts Andorra were handed a defeat by Latvia as the visitors’ payer Velerijs Sabala’s scored the only goal in the 48th minute of the match. In another match, hosts Faroe Island drew against Hungary without scoring a goal.
Monday’s unfinished Group G match between Albania and Macedonia finally finished after 15-hours delay on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the match began from the previous night on 76 minutes. With the 89th minute goal from Bekim Balaj, hosts Albania snatched a victory by 2-1.
In the Group H matches, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat the visitors Estonia by 5-0 while Belgium clinched an away victory over Cyprus by 3-0 with Lukaku’s double. Greece also claimed a victory against the hosts Gibraltar by 4-1 in the same group match.
Brief Scores:
Group A
Belarus 0 – 0 France
Sweden 1 – 1 Netherlands
Bulgaria 4 – 3 Luxemburg
Group B
Switzerland 2 – 0 Portugal
Andorra 0 – 1 Latvia
Faroe Island 0 – 0 Hungary
Group G
Albania 2 – 1 Macedonia (begins from 76 minutes, where the match was suspended at last night)
Group H
Bosnia-Herzegovina 5 – 0 Estonia
Cyprus 0 – 3 Belgium
Gibraltar 1 – 4 Greece
Group Standings after the end of Round 1
Group A
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Belarus | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group B
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
| 2 | Latvia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 |
| 3 | Faroe Islands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Andorra | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 6 | Portugal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group G
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Spain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +8 | 3 |
| 2 | Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 3 |
| 3 | Albania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 3 |
| 4 | Macedonia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 5 | Israel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 6 | Liechtenstein | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group H
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +5 | 3 |
| 2 | Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 3 |
| 3 | Belgium | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 3 |
| 4 | Gibraltar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| 5 | Cyprus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| 6 | Estonia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)