Portugal and Italy hold onto top spots
Portugal and Italy kept hold of first place in their Uefa Nations League groups on Sunday with goalless draws against France and Poland on a night of little drama, while England saw off Belgium to take the initiative in their pool.
There was not much to talk about at the Stade de France as a star-studded line up of players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann failed to muster much of a spectacle in the League A, Group 3 match.
The 1,000 fans gathered in the cavernous stadium just outside Paris to watch France host the reigning European champions were treated to just four shots on target as two rugged defences cancelled out each team’s attacks.
“We didn’t score a goal, but we weren’t here to score goals,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.
“France are a great team. They have great players. It’s not always possible to create opportunities.”
Both sides are on seven points, four ahead of Croatia.
Italy stretched their unbeaten streak to 18 matches and held onto top spot in League A, Group 1 with their stalemate in Gdansk.
New Juventus signing Federico Chiesa missed the chance to win the match for the dominant Azzurri from close range in the 11th minute.
Roberto Mancini’s side are one point
ahead of the Netherlands, who also drew 0-0 with Bosnia and Herzegovina, ahead of their meeting in Bergamo on Wednesday.
England manager Gareth Southgate said his side showed what they were made of after coming from behind to beat Belgium 2-1 and move top of League A, Group 2 earlier on Sunday.
The Three Lions are on seven points, one ahead of the world’s top-ranked side after Marcus Rashford’s spot-kick
and Mason Mount’s deflected winner 25 minutes from time cancelled out Romelu Lukaku’s early penalty.
“We are not going to face a more difficult game defensively,” said Southgate. “That is the beauty of the Nations League, you get games against this level of opponent.”
“It’s a great experience for them and to go and win it should give them a sense of what might be possible in the next few years.” RESULTS
League A
Group 1
Poland 0 Italy 0; Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 Netherlands 0
Group 2
England 2 (Rashford 39-pen, Mount 64) Belgium 1 (Lukaku 16-pen); Iceland 0 Denmark 3 (Sigurjonsson 45-og, Eriksen 46, Skov 61)
Group 3
France 0 Portugal 0; Croatia 2 (Vlasic 32, Kramaric 84) Sweden 1 (Berg 66) League B
Group 1
Northern Ireland 0 Austria 1 (Gregoritsch 42); Norway 4 (Haaland 13, 64, 74, Sorloth 39) Romania 0
Group 2
Israel 1 (Zahavi 56) Czech Republic 2 (Abu Hanna 14-og, Vydra 48); Scotland 1 (Dykes 54) Slovakia 0
Group 3
Serbia 0 Hungary 1 (Konyves 20); Russia 1 (Anton Miranchuk 28) Turkey 1 (Kenan Karaman 62)
Group 4
Finland 2 (Taylor 52, Jensen 67) Bulgaria 0; Republic of Ireland 0 Wales 0 League C
Group 2 Estonia 3 (Sappinen 33,61, Livak 76-pen) North Macedonia 3 (Kuusk 3-og, Pandev 80, Zajkov 88); Armenia 2 (Bayramyan 6, Mkhitaryan 88) Georgia 2 (Katcharava 46, Okriashvili 74)
Group 3 Kosovo 0 Slovenia 1 (Vuckic 22); Greece 2 (Bakasetas 45+3-pen, Mantalos 50) Moldova 0
Group 4 Lithuania 2 (Novikovas 7, Laukzemis 75) Belarus 2 (Lisakovich 59-pen, Sachivko 66); Kazakhstan 0 Albania 0