Pavard strikes as France edge Ireland

Benjamin Pavard marked his return to international duty by scoring the only goal of the game as France defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Dublin on Monday.Victory meant the World Cup finalists had won both their opening Group B games following a convincing 4-0 defeat of the Netherlands on Friday.France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, however, had to make two fine saves late on, including a superb stop from Nathan Collins’ header, to deny Ireland a draw in the hosts’ opening qualifier.Bayern Munich defender Pavard, making his first appearance for France since their opening group game of the World Cup in Qatar, struck five minutes into the second half after seizing on a loose pass across the face of his own goal by Ireland’s Josh Cullen.But third-ranked France were pushed hard by an Ireland side 45 places below them in the FIFA standings. "It’s never easy against a team like that who keep the pressure on,” said France coach Didier Deschamps. "Six points, well, the results are great. Congratulations to the group (France squad), but the road is still long.”Deschamps, turning to Pavard, added: "He’s on the way back up and it’s him who won the game for us. "Anyone can struggle for form and now he’s coming back to his best.” Ireland winger Chiedozie Ogbene hailed his side’s performance by saying: "We should be very proud, we matched one of the best teams in the world and the future is bright.”Seamus Coleman overcame a thigh injury to captain Ireland in one of six changes to the side that beat Latvia 3-2 in a friendly last Wednesday. France dominated the first half but created few clear chances, with Collins preventing Giroud from capitalising on Randal Kolo Muani’s clever back-heeled pass.Yet for all their superiority, France were indebted to an Ireland error when going ahead in the 50th minute. Cullen’s over-ambitious pass was pounced on by Pavard, whose powerful shot past goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu went in off the underside of the crossbar.But with Coleman leading a fine defensive effort that kept superstar France striker Kylian Mbappe quiet, the game remained in the balance. Ireland almost equalised when substitute Kounde headed the ball towards his own net, only for Maignan to make a fine stop.Moments later, Maignan made a truly world-class save from a Collins header before France survived three minutes of added-on time. "Mike is Mike,” said Deschamps. "It’s not easy taking over (from Hugo Lloris) but ever since he has been with us he’s been great.”In Rotterdam, Manchester City centre-back Nathan Ake scored twice in a little over half an hour as the Netherlands overcame 10-men Gibraltar, 200th in the FIFA rankings. Atletico Madrid forward Memphis Depay opened the scoring in the first half with a towering header before veteran Liam Walker was shown a red card the other side of the break.Oranje captain Virgil van Dijk bemoaned a lack of goals at De Kuip from his team, who lost heavily to France in their Group B opener on Friday. "You score three goals, but you have to score many more,” van Dijk said. "This is a game where you can hardly ever get it right. You have to win 10-0, so to speak,” he added.In Group F, Sweden bounced back from a heavy opening defeat to Belgium by hammering Azerbaijan 5-0 in Solna. Emile Forsberg, Viktor Gyokeres, Jesper Karlsson and Anthony Elanga netted for the hosts and Bahlul Mustafazade scored an own goal.Austria avoided an upset at home to beat Estonia 2-1 despite trailing after 25 minutes from a Rauno Sappinen effort. Cologne winger Florian Kainz opened his account for his country with 22 minutes to play before Michael Gregoritsch completed the comeback with two minutes to go. Real Madrid’s David Alaba came off the bench after 46 minutes after Gregoritsch has missed a first half penalty. "I’ve had enough of rollercoaster rides,” Gregoritsch said.Dominik Szoboszlai superb free-kick set Hungary on their way to a 3-0 success over Bulgaria as they started their campaign clinically.Elsewhere in Group G, Dusan Vlahovic’s double were more than enough as Serbia beat Montenegro 2-0 in only their third meeting since Montenegro declared independence in 2006. In Group E, the Czech Republic were held 0-0 by lowly Moldova as Karol Swiderski scored his ninth goal in 21 internationals as Poland beat Albania 1-0 after losing to the Czechs on Friday.ResultsGroup B: Republic of Ireland 0 France 1 (Pavard 50); Netherlands 3 (Depay 24, Ake 50, 82) Gibraltar 0Group E: Moldova 0 Czech Republic 0; Poland 1 (Swiderski 41) Albania 0Group F: Austria 2 (Kainz 68, Gregoritsch 88) Estonia 1 (Sappinen 25); Sweden 5 (Forsberg 38, Mustafazade 65-og, Gyokeres 79, Karlsson 88, Elanga 89) Azerbaijan 0Group G: Montenegro 0 Serbia 2 (Vlahovic 78, 90+6); Hungary 3 (Vecsei 7, Szoboszlai 26, Adam 39) Bulgaria 0