England rolls in Ireland, Georgia corrects Czech Republic

This Saturday afternoon, the Nations League continued with the first day of Group B. A first day that began with an attractive Ireland-England derby at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. A first test for the English team, finalist of the last Euro and now coached by Lee Carsley since the departure of Gareth Southgate. The new British coach was banking on a line-up in line with the last matches. Jack Grealish, absent from the Euro, made his big return to the eleven. And it was inevitably a special match for him as well as for Declan Rice. The two players, of Irish origin, played under the colours of Boys in Green before changing selection. Obviously, the supporters did not forget it and they displayed banners against the two players during the anthems (“The snakes are back” could be read on one of them). On the pitch, the match turned largely to the advantage of England who quickly found the fault.

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And as a symbol, it was Declan Rice who opened the scoring. The English midfielder from Arsenal recovered the ball in the area and sent a shot into the right top corner of the Irish goalkeeper who could do nothing (1-0, 11th). Enough to perfectly launch his team into this match. Dominated, Ireland was unable to raise its head and ran after the ball. England took advantage of its domination to quickly make the break with a goal from… Jack Grealish. The Manchester City striker, like Declan Rice and despite the whistles in the stadium, was on the receiving end of a nice team move (2-0, 26th). A goal that rewarded the good start to the match.

To read
LdN: Jack Grealish and Declan Rice taken against by Irish supporters

Georgia corrects Czech Republic

After the break, the Three Lions were quietly managing their lead without being worried. Despite a few chances on both sides, the score would not change. In the other match in Group B, Willy Sagnol’s Georgia faced the Czech Republic. After their interesting Euro, the eleven of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze hoped to confirm. And that was the case with a large victory acquired after the break. After the first goal on penalty by Kvaratskhelia, Chakvetadze, Mikautadze and Kochorashvili found the fault. Lukas Kalvach reduced the gap at the end of the match for the Czech Republic.

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In League C, Armenia faced Latvia and the Armenian team did not tremble in this match. Oleksandr Petrakov’s team won 4-1 thanks in particular to a goal from Eduard Spertsyan, the midfielder tracked this summer by RC Lens. Enough to start their qualifying campaign well, especially after the draw between the Faroe Islands and North Macedonia. Finally, in League D, Moldova won against Malta (2-0) and took the top of their group. The next matches in these Leagues will take place this Wednesday.

Ligue A

• Georgia 4-1 République Tchèque (Kvaratskhelia, Chakvetadze, Mikautadze, Kochorashvili / Kalvach)
• Ireland 0-2 England (Rice, Grealish)

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Ligue B

• Armenia 4-1 Latvia (Bichakhchyan, Dubra CSC, Zelarayan, Spertsyan / Harutyunyan)

League D

• Moldova 2-0 Malta (Caimacov, Nicolaescu)