Reward for the 'Three Lions'

ITALY IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER

Regardless of the final results, Italy and France are assured of sharing the top two spots in League A Group 2 and progressing to the quarter-finals. Italy are three points ahead and won 3-1 away to France in the first leg. So, as long as they don't lose by more than that in the return leg at home, Italy will take the top spot. While France only drew 0-0 with Israel in a dull manner, Italy beat Belgium 1-0 in the last round. Newcastle's Sandro Tonali scored the only goal early on, his first for the national team. The visitors dominated the midfield, defending tightly and attacking well.

Ollie Watkins (right) scored the opening goal in England's 3-0 win

For many years now, the Azzurri have been in an all-or-nothing situation. They won EURO 2020, but were eliminated in the first knockout round at EURO 2024 and missed out on two consecutive World Cups in 2018 and 2022 for the first time in their history. Now, it seems coach Luciano Spalletti is steering the Azzurri in the right direction. Spalletti's generally young squad has won nine of their last 15 games. Four wins and one draw in the toughest group in the Nations League is a convincing result. In their only draw so far, Italy led Belgium 2-0 at home and only conceded a 2-2 draw after losing a man in the 38th minute.

France are without Kylian Mbappe, and the stalemate against weak Israel is increasing the pressure on coach Didier Deschamps. Many believe that Les Bleus are out of ideas, after so many years under Deschamps. Rumors that Zinedine Zidane could replace Deschamps as coach of the French team continued to circulate after this result.

"T AM SU" AND 3 STAR WINNING

In the big picture, England's victory in Greece has absolutely no impact on this season's Nations League, as they are only League B teams. For the home of football, it was a beautiful victory that speaks to the bright future of the team that coach Thomas Tuchel is preparing to lead. The strong squad is the most notable detail.

Having lost 1-2 at home due to a tactical error by interim coach Lee Carsley, England were under pressure to win again with a bigger score on the opponent's field, in order to gain an advantage in the promotion race. In the end, Carsley's team succeeded with a 3-0 victory, moving up to equal points but above Greece on goal difference. England only needed to beat Ireland at home in the final match to secure a ticket to direct promotion (instead of having to play a play-off).

Replacing Harry Kane as the starting striker, Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the 7th minute. Watkins' goal started with a beautiful backheel in the build-up play. Then, the match ended with a beautiful backheel goal from Curtis Jones, making the score 3-0. The Greek goalkeeper was accidentally counted as an own goal for the second goal, but it was still a goal that clearly marked the "Three Lions" attack.

Before this series of matches, up to 8 English players withdrew from the team due to injury, but the new generation including Rico Lewis, Marc Guehi, Noni Madueke, Curtis Jones, Anthony Gordon... all showed excellence. Carsley said that he never said this was a "B team". Along with the already famous Jude Bellingham, Madueke and Jones were the best players in the "Three Lions" squad in this victory. Coach Tuchel was probably pleased to see the talent of the generation of players he will lead from the beginning of 2025. Tuchel also hoped that England would beat Ireland in the final match, not wanting his first match to be a play-off match for promotion.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nations-league-phan-thuong-cho-tam-su-185241115205410344.htm