The UEFA Nations League continued over the weekend involving some of the best European teams. On Saturday, England, Germany and The Netherlands opened their campaign with victories. Sunday saw Spain pick their first win while Cristiano helped Portugal to a comeback over Scotland.
Spain saw off Swiss with quickfire goals
The European champions started their defense of the Nations League title with a goalless draw at Serbia. But they quickly avoided that in a tricky trip to Switzerland with Joselu and Fabian Ruiz scoring inside the first 13 minutes.
For their part, the Euro 2024 quarter-finalists didn’t give up as their comeback hope was boosted when Robin Le Normand saw a straight red card in the 20th minute. At the end of a grueling game under unfavorable weather conditions, La Roja took all three points with two late goals stretching the result to a resounding 4-1.
Former Irish internationals led England to victory in Dublin
England’s game at Dublin attracted headlines from the get-go. Although it was his routine while winning the U21 Euros last year, Lee Carsley’s decision to not sing the national anthem divided opinions ahead of his England debut.
Coincidentally, it happened to be a game against Ireland, a national team he represented in his playing career. It was also a return to familiar territory for Declan Rice and Jack Grealish as they got a hostile reception from Aviva Stadium.
As fate would have it, they got the goals for a 2-0 win for the Three Lions. But their reactions couldn’t be any different. Rice, who returned to the stadium where he played for Ireland in a friendly win against USMNT in 2018, didn’t want to escalate the situation. That wasn’t the case with Grealish, a Birmingham native like Carsley.
England was relegated to League B after a winless tournament in the 2022-23 edition. The routine win was far from ending the national anthem controversy, however. The Football Association (FA) is expected to…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/biggest-storylines-from-uefa-nations-league-weekend/
Author : Eskender Tamrat
Publish date : 2024-09-08 21:53:21
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