England Dominates Finland with 3-1 Victory in Nations League as Austria Thrashes Norway
England defeated Finland 3-1 in the Nations League while Austria crushed Norway with a convincing 5-1 victory, keeping Erling Haaland quiet the whole game, on Sunday.
In an away Nations League Group B2 match, England defeated Finland 3-1 to get back on track after a depressing loss to Greece.
In the Nations League on Sunday, Austria easily defeated Erling Haaland’s Norway with five goals, while England triumphed easily 3-1 away to Finland. In the first half, Jack Grealish gave England the lead. Within the last 20 minutes, Declan Rice completed the victory with a spectacular free-kick, while Arttu Hoskonen gave the home team a late consolation goal. After his striker-less formation failed the previous time out, interim manager Lee Carsley made some adjustments, and the England team looked more familiar than the one that lost to Greece at Wembley on Thursday.
Carsley told ITV, “The team responded really well — in the best way.”
“They netted three excellent goals. Tonight we were much better. We had much greater control over the game. We created opportunities, passed the ball a ton, and possessed the ball in abundance. However, we are capable of more.”
In the eighteenth minute, Manchester City’s Grealish broke the tie by adding the final touch to a skillfully executed 17-pass play.
Starting in center midfield, Angel Gomes deftly threaded a pass past the Finnish defense, which Grealish raced onto and rolled past the goalie.
Finland had multiple decent opportunities to equalize, but Dean Henderson in the England goal was not sufficiently troubled.
After being used at left-back instead of his typical right-back position for Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold increased the lead on minute 74 with a 25-yard free-kick that he curled into the top corner.
With six minutes to go, Rice tapped away a cross from Ollie Watkins, the substitute, to secure England’s third victory in four Group B2 Nations League games.
Despite losing every game, Finland is still at the bottom of the standings. However, in the 87th minute, Hoskonen headed home from a corner to at least match the team’s goal total for the season.
Greece’s 2-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland in Athens preserved their three-point advantage over England at the top of the group.
With their fourth straight victory, the Greeks maintained their perfect record. Tasos Bakasetas scored first in the second half with a drive from the outskirts of the box that went past Caoimhin Kelleher. Petros Mantalos added a goal in stoppage time.
Greece have not played a home game since Wednesday, when their English-born Greek international George Baldock was discovered drowned in his swimming pool in Athens.
Austria Dominates Norway
In Linz, Austria defeated Norway 5-1 thanks to a brace from Marko Arnautovic.
After Alexander Sorloth equalized in the first half, the Inter Milan forward scored early in both halves. Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch, and Michael Gregoritsch then sealed an emphatic victory for Austria.
On the eighth minute, Arnautovic gave the home team the lead with a powerful 20-yard shot that struck the crossbar. Six minutes before halftime, Sorloth headed an equalizer for Norway.
However, after Christoph Baumgartner was fouled in the box, the Austrian captain scored a penalty kick to put his team ahead once more in the 49th minute.
Two minutes each side of the hour mark, two imposing headers from defenders Lienhart and Posch increased the lead.
The Austrians then secured the win and went up to second place in Group B3 thanks to Gregoritsch’s third header of the half.
The Austrian defense easily subdued the Norwegian captain, whose only serious chance was a shot that struck the post in the fifth minute. Manchester City star Haaland had a night to forget.
Slovenia is tied for third place in the group with seven points with Austria and Norway, having won 1-0 in Kazakhstan thanks to a goal from forward Jan Mlakar in the second half.
Belgium will face France, the 2021 Nations League champions, on Monday, while Germany and the Netherlands, longtime rivals, will play in Munich.
