Saint-Denis Substitutes Loic Remy and Yoann Gourcuff scored late for France to beat Romania 2-0 and move top of its group while a Niko Kranjcer pair handed Croatia a 2-1 away victory over Israel in European Championship qualifying on Saturday.
France's Remy latched onto a brilliant pass over the top of the defence from midfielder Alou Diarra, took one touch to cushion the ball and struck a powerful shot into the bottom left corner in the 83rd minute.
Moments after scoring his first international goal, Remy headed Florent Malouda's cross over the crossbar with the goal gaping.
Gourcuff added the second in injury time after some superb skill from another substitute, Dimitri Payet, who made his debut.
"We're starting to create something; it's starting to bear fruit," France coach Laurent Blanc said. "There will be difficult times ahead, qualifying is long, but for now we're going to savor this."
France has six points and Blanc's team is one point ahead of Albania and Belarus.
In the only other match in Euro qualifiers on Saturday, Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcer's twin goals led his team to the top of Group F.
Kranjcar got his first goal from the penalty spot in the 36th minute and finished off a neat attacking move for his second five minutes later.
Israel's consolation goal came from Etay Shechter 10 minutes from time when he skipped into the box before passing the ball into the net.
Croatia's victory leaves Israel with a formidable challenge if it has any chance of qualifying for its first major tournament since the 1970 World Cup. On Tuesday, Israel visits Greece; Croatia is not playing.
Croatia has seven points, two more than Greece, which beat Latvia 1-0 on Friday.
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