PARIS
\nItaly kept up their perfect start to the UEFA Nations League on Monday, while France got the better of Belgium and Erling Haaland struck a late winner for Norway against Austria.
\nThe Italians built on an impressive win away in France at the weekend as they beat Israel 2-1 in a game played on neutral territory in Budapest due to the security situation in the Middle East.
\nGoals in each half from Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean were enough for Italy to win in a subdued atmosphere at the Bozsik Arena, home of Honved.
\nLuciano Spalletti\u2019s team have reacted well to their disastrous European Championship title defence, which ended at the last-16 stage, and deserved their second win in a matter of days.
\nFrattesi followed his goal in the 3-1 win in France by chesting home Federico Dimarco\u2019s pinpoint cross in the 38th minute to open the scoring. Fiorentina striker Kean made it 2-0 just after the hour mark with his first Italy goal in almost exactly three years, before Mohamed Abu Fani pulled one back at the end for Israel.
\nItaly are top of Nations League Group A2 with the maximum six points, while France and Belgium are level on three points apiece.
\nFrance beat Belgium 2-0 in Lyon, with Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele getting the goals as the home side won despite captain Kylian Mbappe being left out of the starting line-up.
\nThe outcome was a source of some relief for coach Didier Deschamps after his side performed poorly against Italy.
\n\u201cObviously I am really happy with our reaction, and what we were able to do against a very good Belgium side who posed us problems in the first 20 minutes, maybe because we were a bit restless given the context,\u201d said the coach, whose name was jeered by some parts of the crowd when the teams were announced.
\n\u201cWe were a little nervous at the start of the match, then we did a lot of good things collectively, individually too, with new players who didn\u2019t have the experience. But our performance on Friday was not the worst and I am not going to say everything is now wonderful, that everything has been fixed.\u201d
\nANGRY DE BRUYNE
\nThe game was a repeat of the Euro 2024 last-16 tie which France won 1-0 in Duesseldorf thanks to a late own goal.
\nThis time, Les Bleus went ahead just before the half-hour mark, Kolo Muani applying the finish after Dembele\u2019s mishit shot was pushed out by Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels.
\nA Belgian side captained by Kevin De Bruyne could not find an equaliser and France scored again on 57 minutes thanks to a fine individual effort by Dembele.
\nThe Paris St Germain winger skipped inside from the right wing before blasting a shot into the net on his left foot with De Bruyne launching an angry tirade against his team-mates after his side were beaten.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at halftime,\u201d he told Belgian VTM television, \u201cI cannot repeat that in the media but it has to be better in every way. If the standard we want to reach is the best, but were no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything. If you don\u2019t even do that, it\u2019s over.\u201d
\n\u201cI can accept that were not as good as in 2018,\u201d the 33-year-old De Bruyne said of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in Russia. \u201cI was the first to see that, but other things are unacceptable. I\u2019m not going to say what.\u201d
\nIn Group B3, Norway beat Austria 2-1 in Oslo as Manchester City star Haaland fired in the winner 10 minutes from time.
\nFelix Myhre gave Norway an early lead only for Marcel Sabit\u00adzer of Borussia Dortmund to equa\u00adlise for Austria before the break.
\nHowever, Haaland \u2014 who drew a blank in Norway\u2019s 0-0 draw in Kazakhstan on Friday \u2014 showed trademark strength inside the box to hold off his marker and fire in the winner, with the goal given after a long VAR check for a possible offside.<\/p>\n
ODEGAARD INJURED
\nBut the victory was tarnished with Martin Odegaard suffering from what appeared to be a serious ankle injury.
\nThe Arsenal skipper left the pitch after receiving treatment for several minutes in the second half following a collision with Austria\u2019s Christoph Baumg\u00adartner, and Norway boss Stale Solbakken said it looked bad.
\n\u201cMartin Odegaard\u2019s injury looked bad in the dressing room as well I saw he was sitting with the physiotherapists around him but he had no chance to continue and we know it was an ankle sprain,\u201d the coach said to Norwegian TV 2.
\nIn the same group, RB Leipzig\u2019s Benjamin Sesko bagged a hat-trick as Slovenia beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in Ljubljana.
\nIn Group B4, Wales followed their goalless draw against Turkey by beating Montenegro 2-1 away for their first win under new coach Craig Bellamy.
\nThey got off to a terrific start, with Kieffer Moore and Harry Wilson both scoring inside the first three minutes. Driton Camaj then pulled one back for the hosts.
\nTurkey beat Iceland 3-1 in Izmir, a game in which Kerem Akturkoglu of Benfica hit a hat-trick.
\nThere were also wins on Mon\u00adday for Romania and Kosovo res\u00adpec\u00adtively in League C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Italy kept up their perfect start to the UEFA Nations League on Monday, while France got the better of Belgium and Erling Haaland struck a late winner for Norway against Austria. The Italians built on an impressive win away in France at the weekend as they beat Israel 2-1 in a game played on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-430721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n