Gareth Southgate has admitted some of his younger England players felt the weight of the shirt during a high‑stress Nations League get-together. The manager was the focal point for criticism after the 1-0 defeat against Italy in Milan last Friday, the travelling fans booing him at full time. The result had followed the 4-0 home defeat against Hungary in June when Southgate was also jeered – the...
Spain snatched a place in the Nations League final four after Álvaro Morata’s late goal secured a 1-0 win over Portugal in Braga to ensure top spot in their group. Portugal had dominated the match but Spain stayed in the contest and in the 88th minute a long ball into the box from Dani Carvajal was headed by Nico Williams across to Morata, who lashed it into the net to silence most of the sold...
Italy clinched a place in the Nations League final four with a 2-0 win away against Hungary thanks to goals by Giacomo Raspadori and Federico Dimarco in their last League A-Group 3 game on Monday. Italy, the European champions who missed out on a place at the World Cup in Qatar, finished top on 11 points from six games, one point above second-placed Hungary who needed to avoid defeat to secure a...
Spain ended European champions Italy’s world record 37-match unbeaten run as Ferran Torres scored twice in a 2-1 win at the San Siro stadium in their Nations League semi-final. Spain will face the winners of Thursday’s other semi-final between France and Belgium in Sunday’s decider. 13 best sour beers to drink while soaking up summer raysTorres put Spain ahead in the 17th minute, steering a left...
This can no longer be written off as meaningless. The Nations League has instead produced England’s worst-ever home defeat to a side from outside the old “home nations”, and worst in all since 1928, as Hungary symbolically surpassed their own famous 6-3 of 1953. We might well see a similar inquest. This obviously can’t be dismissed as just the Nations League any more. There felt more to it than...