Kane goal not enough, wins for Croatia & Germany U21

There were two matches involving FC Bayern players in Group A3 of the UEFA Nations League on Saturday evening, while Tom Bischof and David Santos Daiber were also in action with their respective youth teams. fcbayern.com with the round-up:

England lose despite Kane goal

Despite a goal from Harry Kane, England went down to a 3-2 defeat against Spain in their Nations League opener at Wembley Stadium. The Three Lions captain had put his team 2-1 up at the break with his header in the 40th minute, shortly after Anthony Gordon had cancelled out Lamine Yamal’s early opener, but Alex Baena (60’) and Mikel Oyarzabal (74’) turned the game back in the Spaniards’ favour in the second half. It was a particularly frustrating night for Kane as the striker had a big chance to put England 3-1 up from the penalty spot in the 54th minute, but slipped as he ran up and hit the crossbar.

“We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe,” said Kane following the final whistle in London. “On another day, for sure we'd have won that game. We have to take the positives from it. At the moment it’s obviously disappointing, but we have to dust ourselves down and go again in a few days."

They have the opportunity to do that already on Tuesday, when Thomas Tuchel’s side meet Czech Republic in Prague on Matchday 2.

Josip Stanišić and Croatia made a better start to the Nations League. In their first match since the return of Slaven Bilić as head coach, they celebrated a 2-1 victory in Czech Republic on Saturday evening. The Bayern defender played the full 90 minutes in Prague, while the goals came from Luca Modrić (47’) and Marco Pašalić (77’). Adam Karabec (54’) equalised in between for the hosts.

The Croatians therefore take up second place in Group A3 ahead of Kane’s England, but next they face world champions Spain in Seville on Tuesday.

Bischof leads Germany U21 to victory

The German U21 team, captained by Tom Bischof, remain on course for the European Under-21 Championship next summer. The DFB youngsters eased to a 4-0 win over Latvia in Riga on Saturday, with the goals coming from Paris Brunner (1’, 42’), Nicolo Tresoldi (52’) and Arijon Ibrahimović (76’), who’s currently on loan at FC Augsburg from Bayern. Bischof was substituted on 59 minutes.

The win keeps Germany top of their EURO qualifying group, level on points with Greece. Bischof will turn out again for the U21s in the next match against Malta on Tuesday, before he’s due to join up with the senior team for their two internationals in October.

Santos Saiber suffers defeat with Portugal U21

David Santos Daiber’s debut for the Portuguese U20 side ended in a 3-1 defeat to Poland in the U20 Elite League. The Bayern youngster came on in the 65th minute. Portugal have the chance to make amends in the clash with Switzerland on Tuesday.