UEFA Nations League Match Results: Sterling’s Penalty Bring England to Conquer Iceland, Ronaldo Absent when against Croatia

DBasia.news – No surprises occurred in the first match of the UEFA Nations League group. Major European countries such as England, Portugal and France won in the match which took place on Saturday (05/09), WIB and Sunday (06/09) am, WIB.

Starting from the Group B match between Iceland and England at Laugardalsvollur. Iceland put up with fierce resistance at home and frustrated England with a multi-layered defense, relying on counter-attacks.

Iceland had 22 percent possession of the ball and only had two attempted kicks. The momentum came when Sverrir Ingi Ingason was given a red card in the 89th minute following Kyle Walker who was also sent off in the 70th minute.

Raheem Sterling scored England’s only goal in the 90 + 1 minute through a penalty. Despite England’s win, Gareth Southgate’s direction still needed improvement as they played inefficiently despite controlling possession of the ball by 78 percent.

Meanwhile, at the Friends Arena, Sweden hosted a 0-1 defeat to the 2018 World Cup champions, France. Les Bleus’ single goal was scored by PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) striker, Kylian Mbappe in the 41st minute. It was the only shot on target made by France.

Last but not least is the big match between Portugal (defending UEFA Nations League champion) and Croatia (World Cup finalist 2018) at Estadio do Dragao. Without Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal was still able to secure a 4-1 victory.

Four of Portugal’s goals were scored by Joao Cancelo (41 ‘), Diogo Jota (58’), Joao Felix (70 ‘), and Andre Silva (90 + 4’) which were minimized by Bruno Petkovic’s consolation goal in the 90 + 1 minute. As a result Portugal leads the Group 3 League A standings with three points ahead of France, Sweden and Croatia.

Following are the complete results of the UEFA Nations League match:

Group 2 League A.

Denmark 0-2 Belgium

Iceland 0-1 England

Group 1 League C

Azerbaijan 1-2 Luxembourg

Cyprus 0-2 Montenegro

League C Group 2

Estonia 0-1 Georgia

North Macedonia 1-0 Israel

Group 3 League A.

Portugal 4-1 Croatia

Sweden 0-1 France