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International round-up: Krafth and Lewis start in impressive victories
Written by Dan King
Newcastle United defenders Emil Krafth and Jamal Lewis were part of a pair of excellent World Cup qualifying results with their respective national teams on Thursday.
Krafth played the whole game as Sweden beat Spain in Stockholm - La Roja's first World Cup qualifying defeat since 1993.
Carlos Soler gave Spain the lead but Alexander Isak equalised within seconds and in the second half, Viktor Claesson scored what proved to be the winner. The result means Sweden are top of Group B with nine points from three games.
Spain dominated possession but right-back Krafth - who was booked - was part of a fine defensive display which restricted Luis Enrique's side to four shots on target. Krafth had also contributed to a similar rearguard action in Sweden's 0-0 draw with Spain at Euro 2020 in June.
Sweden now face Uzbekistan in a home friendly on Monday before another qualifier in Greece on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland gave their qualification hopes a boost with a 4-1 win in Lithuania, with Lewis playing the full 90 minutes at left wing-back.
Arsenal's Daniel Ballard opened the scoring and Conor Washington of Charlton netted a penalty before Rolandas Baravykas pulled one back for the hosts, who could then have equalised from the penalty spot - but Arvydas Novikovas' spot-kick was saved by Darlington-born Burnley goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
And that allowed Blackpool's Shayne Lavery and Middlesbrough's Paddy McNair to add further goals for Northern Ireland, the fourth coming from another penalty, and give Ian Baraclough's men a first victory of their Group C campaign. They have a friendly in Estonia on Monday and then a crucial qualifying clash with Fabian Schär's Switzerland at Windsor Park on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, in the CONMEBOL section of qualifying, Paraguay were beaten 2-0 by Ecuador but Miguel Almirón remained on Tyneside due to a decision taken reluctantly alongside other Premier League clubs not to release players for international matches played in red list countries.
That followed FIFA's position not to extend its temporary release exception for players required to quarantine on their return from international duty.