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Portugal and Spain picked up victories in the Nations League on Thursday to set up a battle between the Iberian neighbors for a spot in the Final Four, Associated Press reported.

Portugal took sole possession of the lead in Group 2 of the top-tier League A by defeating the Czech Republic 2-0, while Spain earned a first win and moved into second place by edging past struggling Switzerland 1-0 in Geneva.

Portugal, the inaugural champion in 2019, is two points ahead of Spain and three in front of the Czechs after three matches. Only the group winners make it to the Final Four, while the last-placed teams will be relegated.

“It’s still wide open,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.

It was the second consecutive win for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal after it had opened with a draw against Spain, last year’s runner-up to France. 

The Spaniards ended their winless run with the victory over last-place Switzerland, which has lost all its matches. The Swiss hadn’t been beaten at home in eight years in a run of 23 matches, according to Associated Press.

“Professional soccer is about results,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said. “We were able to impose our style.”

Portugal opened the scoring with João Cancelo’s low shot from a narrow angle in the 33rd minute, and Gonçalo Guedes added to the lead five minutes later from inside the area after an assist by Bernardo Silva.

Defender Pepe made his 127th appearance, joining Luis Figo for third-best all-time for Portugal. The duo are behind the 145 appearances of João Moutinho and the 188 of Ronaldo. 

Spain got on the board in the 13th minute with Pablo Sarabia redirecting a cross by Marcos Llorente for a goal that had to be confirmed by video review to check for offside. 

“It was about time we won,” Sarabia said. “These three points are very valuable for us.”

It was the teams’ first meeting since Spain defeated the Swiss on penalties in the quarterfinals of the European Championship last year.

Portugal will close play in the June international window in Switzerland on Sunday, while Spain host the Czech Republic.

In the second-tier League B, Erling Haaland drew a blank in Norway’s 0-0 home draw with Slovenia. Haaland arrived as one of the Nations League’s leading scorers with three goals, Associated Press reported. 

Norway leads Group 4 while Slovenia, which was a man down from the 63rd after Miha Blazic was sent off, is in last place. Serbia won 1-0 at Sweden with a goal by Luka Jovic to jump to second place, three points ahead of the Swedes.

In League C, Kosovo defeated Northern Ireland 3-2, Greece routed Cyprus 3-0, Gibraltar drew 1-1 with Bulgaria and Georgia defeated North Macedonia 3-0.

Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Greece’s Tasos Bakasetas each scored Thursday to join Haaland and Turkey’s Serdar Dursun with three goals.

Estonia won 2-1 at Malta in League D, according to the Associated Press.

Harry Kane's late penalty gave England a Nations League draw in Germany as he became only the second man to score 50 goals for his country, BBC reported.

England captain Kane sent Germany keeper Manuel Neuer the wrong way from the spot with two minutes left, as a VAR review ruled he had been brought down by Nico Schlotterbeck.

It was a goal that gave England their first point in the tournament after defeat in Hungary on Saturday and moved Kane into second place in the all-time record standings, moving ahead of Sir Bobby Charlton to sit only three behind Wayne Rooney, according to BBC.

England looked to be going down to their second defeat but came to life late on in Munich after going behind to Jonas Hofmann's deflected 50th-minute shot and will now look to build on this result when they face Italy at Molineux on Saturday.

Titleholder France failed to rebound from its opening defeat in the Nations League after it was held by Croatia to 1-1 on Monday, Associated Press reported.

Midfielder Adrien Rabiot broke the deadlock after the break and substitute Andrej Kramarić equalized from the spot late for Croatia not to lose to France for the first time in 11 years. 

The draw did neither any favors: France was stunned by Denmark 2-1 in Paris on Friday, the first loss after 20 unbeaten matches, and Croatia started its campaign by losing at home to Austria 3-0.

France will next travel to Austria on Friday while Croatia will visit Denmark, which took sole lead of their League A group.

Denmark made it two from two after beating Austria 2-1 in Vienna. Defender Jens Stryger scored six minutes from the end for Denmark. Xaver Schlager equalized for the hosts after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s opener.

The match was delayed by 90 minutes due to a power failure.

Denmark tops the group with six points, followed by Austria with three. France and Croatia have a point each, according to Associated Press.

The four group winners in League A will qualify for the final four in June next year. The group winners in the lower leagues will gain promotion.

France coach Didier Deschamps called the draw “satisfying” after changing 10 of the side which started the loss against Denmark.

France missed star striker Kylian Mbappé, who picked up a knee injury against Denmark, and also absent were Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann, replaced by Wissam Ben Yedder and Christopher Nkunku up front.

“This is our chance to prepare for the World Cup and try all the possibilities we have,” Deschamps said. “We are using this competition the best we can.”

At the World Cup in Qatar, France is grouped with Denmark, Tunisia and a yet-to-be-determined team, Associated Press reported.

The sold-out crowd of some 30,000 cheered Croatia captain Luka Modrić in his 150th appearance.

“It was a phenomenal feeling, I am happy and proud of my 150th match for Croatia,” Modrić said.

The first defensive half resulted in only one chance on each side and Nkunku had a goal disallowed for offside.

Rabiot exchanged passes with Ben Yedder, who set him up to find the back of the net with a left-foot shot seven minutes into the second half to put the visitors ahead.

Kramarić calmly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with a low right-foot penalty seven minutes from time, Associated Press reported.

Brazil defeated Japan 1-0 in a friendly Monday thanks to a penalty by Neymar in the 77th minute after he was tripped in the box on a rainy night at Tokyo’s new National Stadium, Associated Press reported.

It was Neymar’s 74th goal for the national team, leaving him three short of matching the record held by Pele. He also scored two penalties last week in a 5-1 victory over South Korea as Brazil tested itself on an Asian tour against two teams who qualified for the World Cup.

Japan is now winless against Brazil in 13 matches (11 losses and 2 draws). Brazil also stretched its unbeaten run to 13 games. Its last loss came just under a year ago to Argentina in the Copa America final.

Defender Marquinhos knows Brazil was fortunate to get away with the narrow victory.

“We expected this to be a tougher match, but we also played better against South Korea,” Marquinhos said. “We made some mistakes that gave them confidence. This is a good test against a team that is ready for the World Cup.”

Brazil, an early favorite along with defending champion France, is grouped with Cameroon, Switzerland and Serbia at the World Cup. Japan was drawn in the toughest group and must face Germany and Spain in Qatar. Costa Rica or New Zealand will fill the other place, according to Associated Press.

“Sometime in the World Cup all you need is to win 1-0, and that’s what we did today,” the Brazilian defender added.

Brazil coach Tite said his team is “much better prepared” than it was four years ago going to the World Cup in Russia. Tite took over that team after Dunga was fired in 2016, two years ahead of the World Cup.

“The previous cycle (2016-18) brought me the experience,” he said. “I don’t underestimate that. I didn’t think I would be this long with the national team.”

Tite said he had hoped to play England or France before the World Cup, which proved impossible. He said he’s now looking for a team ranked in the top 30 for a match, perhaps in September.

Brazil had most of the possession and had several chances to score more goals, with Neymar missing a couple of opportunities from open play.

Brazil made four changes from the team that defeated South Korea. Dropped to the bench were goalkeeper Weverton, defender Thiago Silva, left back Alex Sandro and striker Richarlison. In their places, Alisson started in goal, Eder Militao and Guilherme in defense, and Vinicius Junior at striker, Associated Press reported.

Lucas Paqueta hit the post just a minute into the match, Fred hit the crossbar 10 minutes later, and Raphinha forced Japanese goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda to make the first save of the match from a close-range shot about 20 minutes into the game.

Neymar had his best chance midway through the first half but Gonda dived to his left to stop the effort. Gonda denied him again just before halftime, while Raphinha also missed a free kick late in the half.

Japan posed some threats early with Junya Ito trying to cross balls in from the right wing, forcing several corners, and also pressed early in the second half without managing to test goalkeeper Alisson, who had a quiet night.

In another friendly between Asian and South American teams, South Korea beat Chile 2-0. Hwang Hee-chan and Son Heung-min scored a goal each at home in Daejeon, according to Associated Press.

Brazil routed South Korea 5-1 last week.