England and Norway advance, France outplay Italy – Haaland with a treble

England and Norway clinch promotion to League A of the Nations League. The Three Lions roll over Ireland and win 5:0, while Norway benefit from a slip-up by Austria. France celebrate a prestigious victory in Italy.

England struggled for a long time at Wembley. It took a penalty after 53 minutes, the resulting sending off of Liam Scales and the opening goal by captain Harry Kane to swing the pendulum in the home team’s favor. The English side added two more in the space of five minutes and ultimately celebrated an unchallenged victory, which was also necessary for promotion due to the 2-0 win by the Greeks in Finland.

Austria missed out on a direct return to League A. Coach Ralf Rangnick’s team, who were superior for a long time, were held to a 1-1 draw by Slovenia in Vienna and were overtaken by Norway, who had no trouble with Kazakhstan and won 5-0. Erling Haaland contributed three goals. It was goals 36, 37 and 38 for the 24-year-old in only his 39th international match.

France celebrated a prestigious victory in League A. The Équipe Tricolore beat Italy 3:1 in Milan, taking revenge for their home defeat at the beginning of September and securing group victory after all. Adrien Rabiot celebrated scoring twice. The assist came twice from Lucas Digne, who also scored the free-kick that Guglielmo Vicario deflected into his own goal.

SDA