Key events
GOAL! Sweden 2-1 Poland (Ayari 64)
Ayari is becoming a bit of a superstar, isn’t he?! Sweden take a corner short to the Brighton man, who sends Szymanski to the shops with a delicious feint, before curling a strike into the far corner from the edge of the area. Great goal.
61 min: Belgium 0-0 France
France pushing and probing, now the dominant team in Brussels. The Zidane era has not got off to a rip-roaring start with a 1-0 win in Turkey and no goals here, but Les Bleus have been exciting going forward. Maybe more exciting with what is effectively their second XI than the first XI that played against Turkey?! Doué has been a joke this game, taking on Belgians like he’s playing some sort of video game.
59 min: Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Perhaps buoyed by that fiery end to the first half, Hungary have begun the second half much better than the first. Lukacs and Shafer are much more prominent with the ball for the visitors. Still goalless.
TURKEY GOAL DISALLOWED! It stays 4-1 to Italy!
55 min: Turkey 1-4 Italy
This is a ridiculous decision to deny Turkey a perfectly valid goal. Baris Yilmaz goes clean through but with the ball squelching and bouncing wildly in the downpouring rain, the Galatasaray forward is forced wide. Italy’s defenders recover but can’t stop Yilmaz from squeezing a shot across goal, off the far post and in! The goal is ruled offside by referee Michael Oliver! I think Akturkoglu was penalised for being in the eye-line of Donnarumma, but he was nowhere near the Italy goalkeeper. Shocking decision!
GOAL! Romania 1-4 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mahmic 55)
Bosnia and Herzegovina have surely sewn up the victory, Mahmic nodding a fourth after a wondrous cross from Bajraktarevic on the right.
GOAL! Turkey 1-4 Italy (Pio Esposito 50)
Game on?! Game off! Pio Esposito immediately restores Italy’s three-goal cushion, heading into an open net after Sandro Tonali’s shot cannons off the post. Manchester United goalkeeper Bayindir (on loan at Celta Vig), who gifted possession to Italy in the first place, was helpless on the ground following Tonali’s shot.
GOAL! Turkey 1-3 Italy (Baris Yilmaz 47)
Turkey start the second half like a train, catching Italy cold! Aydin gets free down the right, reaching the byline and he plays a beautiful low cross that dissects Donnarumma and the Italian defence, with Baris Yilmaz tucking in a tap-in at the back post! Game on?!
Peeeeeeep!
We’re underway again.
A fine email from John Brennan:
“Talk of brothers playing for Italy will always bring to mind the great George Hamilton of RTE and his clarification that “the Baggio brothers, of course, are not related””.
Half-time reading:
Half-time scores!
Belgium 0-0 France
Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Turkey 0-3 Italy
Sweden 1-1 Poland
Romania 1-3 Bosnia and Herzegovina
A fiery end to the half in Belfast with Shea Charles clashing with Hungary’s Lukacs just as the whistle went. Szoboszlai is not happy as he trudges off, claiming that there was some sort of misconduct from the Northern Ireland captain.
You’ll notice that Bosnia and Herzegovina are now 3-1 up, Tabakovic pouncing to tuck a rebound away.
GOAL! Sweden 1-1 Poland (Szymanski 43)
Poland are level! A wonderful team goal with Zalewski the instigator. The Atalanta man starts the move with a clever reverse pass, receives the ball back on the byline and cuts the ball back to Szymanski, six yards out, who tucks the ball away!
40 min: Belgium 0-0 France
Belgium are growing into the game. De Bruyne, evergreen, goes close, curling his shot just wide of Maignan’s right-hand post!
“Your description of camera lenses trained on Zidane reminded me of the 2006 documentary/conceptual art film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait,” emails Peter Oh. “It consists of a full match of moody Zizou-only footage set to a soundtrack by Mogwai.”
Northern Ireland hit the bar!
36 min: Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Pinball in the Hungary box as Atcheson and Shea Charles look to pounce on the loose ball. Patrick Kelly finally gets a shot away, a toe-poke that loops towards goal, but bounces off the crossbar and away. Northern Ireland are are by far the better side, but they really need to make this dominance count for something.
33 min: Romania 1-2 Bosnia and Herzegovina
With so much going on elsewhere, I regret to inform you that I have neglected Romania v Bosnia and Herzegovina. The visitors have a 2-1 lead with Leeds United’s Muharemovic scoring the second, a bullet header from a corner.
30 min: Turkey 0-3 Italy
Turkey have stabilised, somewhat. Arda Guler can’t get into the game for the hosts. With no Hakan Calhanoglu and Kenan Yildiz (both injured), Turkey are struggling for inspiration.
“Here in Naples, I’m watching the Turkey-Italy match with Italian friends after the poor showing against Belgium,” emails Colum Fordham. “I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far. Mancini has goven Italy some shape. The Esposito brothers are playing with aplomb but I’m really really impressed by Kayode who is doing a fine job in place of the Napoli captain Di Lorenzo. An assist and a goal. And I wish Raspadori was still playing for Napoli. Turkey have good players but no signnof a team. Poor Montella.
25 min: Belgium 0-0 France
Some full-blooded challenges from Belgium, who are hanging on a bit here. Twice France are denied penalty shouts, with Barcola and Doué going down in Belgium’s area, before Seys goes in heavily on Camavinga. Free-kick, from which Akliouche tests Lammens with a testing shot down to his left, the ball bobbles to Doué, then Kalulu, who sees his shot cleared off the line by Ngoy! Belgium are all over the place, with Seys being given a particularly torrid night by Doué.
GOAL! Turkey 0-3 Italy (Kayode 27)
Kayode scores on his debut, as Italy run riot in Turkey. Boos rain down from the stands after Turkey lose the ball on the edge of their own area. Pio Esposito is again the creator as he feeds Kayode – the right-back completely unmarked as he advances again from right-back – and the debutant tucks away a fine finish inside the near post. What a huge improvement from the defeat in Belgium. Not even France looked this accomplished when they played here on Friday.
GOAL! Turkey 0-2 Italy (Frattesi 22)
Frattesi doubles the lead for Mancini’s men! The goal comes at the end of a flowing, one-touch move, as Pio Esposito and Tonali combine on the edge of the keeper before releasing Kayode. The Brentford right back flashes a shot across goal, Bayindir saves but Frattesi is there to tap in the rebound!
18 min: Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Jamie Donley goes down in the area, and there are shouts from the home side for a penalty, but Northern Ireland are penalised for offside. Michael O’Neill’s side are much the stronger in Belfast.
France’s Doué hits the bar!
11 min: Belgium 0-0 France
Doué nearly scores a wonderful solo goal! The PSG man has just ridiculous feet, the sort of player who could do the Riverdance inside a phonebox, and he somehow squeezes past Seys and Godts in one outrageous moment, before smashing a shot onto the bar. Lammens was beaten, but Belgium survive.
GOAL! Sweden 1-0 Poland (Nygren 10)
Celtic’s Nygren glances an inswinging cross into the far corner and Graham Potter’s side have the lead!
13 min: Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Hume goes close from long range! A dreadful clearance from Orban lands at the Sunderland full-back’s feet and he drives a bouncing shot just a yard wide. It’s been an even opening 13 minutes to this game, both teams in it.
6 min: Belgium 0-0 France
Belgium v France is slightly behind the others, due to that delayed start. The hosts have made another bright start. They will fancy their chances against this much-changed France XI. Godts is again looking lively.
“I’m guessing ‘WE ARE BELGIUM’ was in English because if it was in the three official languages (Dutch, French and German) then it’d take up three quarters of the stadium, just for that, leaving no room for owt else,” quips Andy Flintoff.
GOAL! Turkey 0-1 Italy (Bastoni 9)
Bastoni scores his fourth goal for Italy in truly bizarre circumstances. It’s absolutely bucketing down rain in Bursa and a low corner squirts across Turkey’s box. Zeki Celik, who plays in Italy for Juventus, should deal with it at the near post, but the defender completely miskicks and Bastoni is well placed on the penalty box to shoot/tackle the ball into the roof of the net! A great start for Mancini and co!
4 min: Turkey 0-0 Italy
Raspadori jinks one way and the other, then fires uncharacteristically wide from a tight angle. I love Raspadori: he lacks an all-round game to be truly elite but normally is deadly with his finishing. The sort of player that would have 20 finishing on Championship manager, but have an otherwise average set of stats.
2 min: Northern Ireland 0-0 Hungary
Looks like Hungary are lining up in a 4-3-2-1, almost a Christmas tree formation. Szoboszlai is one of two players in the No 10 role.
Peeeeeeeep!
We are underway in almost all of the games. Belgium v France is slightly delayed.
Belgium and France are now out of the tunnel. Almost all the photographers are trained on Zinedine Zidane as he takes his place in the dugout, dressed head to toe in dark suit, dark shirt, dark tie. It’s a good look.
A massive tifo, spelling out ‘WE ARE BELGIUM’ (in English?!) adorns the terraces at the King Baudouin Stadium.
The teams are out! We’ll have the anthems now. There really is nothing that holds a candle to Il Canto degli Italiani, in my book.
There is some sort of delay in Brussels, where neither Belgium or France are yet to emerge. Ominously, Sweet Caroline is playing over the tannoy.
Michael O’Neill, Northern Ireland head coach, speaks to the BBC:
We know all about Szoboszlai, and the quality he can bring, we see it every week in the Premier League. But Hungary are a very good team. We do feel confident at home, though. We have won seven out of nine in the last wee period and the only defeat was to Germany, a game we gelt aggrieved to lose. So we’re feeling good.
Ruairi McConville comes in for the injured Dan Ballard, the Sunderland centre-back will be a big miss for Norther Ireland. Shea Charles, just 22, captains the side. The average age of Michael O’Neill’s XI is just 23!
For Hungary, Tamas Szucs replaces the injured Damir Redzic.
Northern Ireland v Hungary team news
Northern Ireland: P Charles, Hume, Brown, Atcheson, McConville, Brown, Devenny, S Charles, Galbraith, Kelly, Price, Donley.
Subs: Hazard, Peacock-Farrell, Devlin, Forbes, Charles, O’Neill, Smyth, Morrison, McNair, Spencer, Graham, Magennis.
Hungary: B Toth, Kerkez, Csinger, Orban, Bolla, Schafer, Csongvai, Jurek, Szoboszlai, T Szucs, Lukacs.
Subs: Gundel-Takacs, Pecsi, Osvath, K. Szucs, Markgraf, Vitalis, Barany, Nagy, Varkonyi, M. Toth, A. Toth, Doktorics.
Much like France, Italy are almost completely different to XI that started against Belgium. Sandro Tonali and Pio Esposito are the only outfield survivors and the headline news is that the latter’s brother, Sebastiano, is also handed his debut: the Esposito brothers are first to start for the Azzurri since Aldo & Luigi Cevenini in January 1915! Another notable inclusion is Brentford’s Michael Kayode. I can’t believe how long it has taken for Italy to hand the right-back his debut, considering the 22-year-old has been one of the best full-backs in Europe for nearly a year now. But here we are.
Turkey v Italy team news
Turkey 3-4-3: Bayinder; Demiral, Çelik, Kabak; Aydin, Kökçu, Özcan, Elmali; Arda Güler, Yilmaz, Uzun.
Subs: Akayin, Akturkoglu, Ege Tiknaz, Gul, Sengezer, Bardakci, Yuksek, Can Kahveci, Akgun, Kadioglu, Eskihellac, Kocuk.
Italy 4-3-3: Donnarumma; Kayode, Scalvini, Bastoni, Ruggeri; Frattesi, Tonali, Fagioli; Raspadori, P.Esposito, S.Esposito
Subs: Carnesecchi, Vicario: Calafiori, Di Lorenzo, Ghilardi: Doumbia, Romano, Mandragora: Cambiaghi, Kean, Vergara, Scamacca
Belgium make two changes from the side that beat Italy. Club Brugge’s Joaquin Seys, heavily linked with Manchester United in the summer, comes in for Brighton’s Maxim De Cuyper, at left-back. Chelsea’s injury-prone gem Romeo Lavia replaces Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin.
The only outfield player to survive from France’s win over Turkey is Maxence Lacroix. Nine changes!. We’re not sure whether that is because of injury or fatigue, or whether that is because Zidane had a withering asssessment of Friday’s win, but it is a much-changed XI for Les Bleus.
Esteban Lepaul will earn his first start and play as the No 9, while Andy Diouf, Jérémy Jacquet, and Lucas Da Cunha all make their France debuts. This is going to be very interesting.
Belgium v France team news: Zidane makes nine changes from Turkey win!
Belgium 4-2-3-1: Lammens; Castagne, Mechele, Ngoy, Seys; Lavia, Tielemans; Moreira, De Bruyne, Godts; De Ketelaere.
Subs: De Busser, Vandevoordt, Debast, De Cuyper, De Winter, Fernandez-Pardo, Keita, Lukaku, Lukebakio, Openda, Raskin, Vanaken.
France 4-3-3: Maignan; Kalulu, Jacquet, Lacroix, Diouf; Akliouche, Camavinga, Da Cunha; Doué, Lepaul, Barcola.
Subs: Restes, Truffert, Upamecano, Kounde, Dembele, Kone, Cherki, Olise, Rabiot, Yoro, Butez.
Full-time in the early kick-offs
The three early Nations League matches have now finished. Montenegro followed up their late win over Cyprus on Friday with an even later (89th-minute) winner this evening to beat Armenia 3-2. Aleksa Latkovic pounced after some dreadful goalkeeping from Armenia’s Ognjen Cancarevic.
Elsewhere, there were goalless draws:
Georgia 0-0 Ukraine
Latvia 0-0 Cyprus
Preamble
Whisper it, but the Nations League is … quite good? It is, at least, a serious upgrade on the international iterations of the past. Jonathan Wilson, in today’s newsletter, described the Nations League as a “palate-cleanser” and “having “a similar role to the Carabao Cup, a competition that is not nothing but is not obviously something either”, which I think is just about right. You can read more of Jonathan’s thoughts right here.
Another intriguing evening of Nations League awaits. Here are the 7.45pm BST fixtures we will be covering in this liveblog:
Belgium v France
Northern Ireland v Hungary
Turkey v Italy
Sweden v Poland
Romania v Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plenty to go on, then. Belgium v France promises to be a cracker. Belgium were excellent in victory on Friday, Mark van Bommel’s first game in charge. They swatted aside Italy 2-0 in Rome, and did it all without the sidelined Jérémy Doku (although his replacement, PSG’s Mika Godts, was a revelation). France are missing Kylian Mbappé after the Real Madrid was hurt in scoring the only goal of the game in Turkey – Mbappé has since been diagnosed with hyperextension of the posterior capsule of his left knee, and is expected to be out for the rest of the international break. Now coached by Zinedine Zidane, France flickered with quality against Turkey but also looked vulnerable. They are far from the finished article, but there is plenty of time for Zizou to work his magic.
Northern Ireland came away from Georgia on Friday with a dramatic 1-0 win, following Shea Charles’ 99th-minute toe-poke, but tonight is arguably a stiffer test as Hungary and Dominik Szoboszlai arrive in Belfast. Hungary lost at home to Ukraine on Friday and will be determined to bounce back.
Sweden v Poland looks evenly matched, but Turkey v Italy is the pick of the games otherwise. Vincenzo Montella, Turkey’s manager, faces compatriot Roberto Mancini in the battle of the dugouts. The pair briefly played together 30 years ago at Sampdoria, in Mancini’s final season at the club. Together they scored a combined 37 goals in 1996-97 to help Samp qualify for the Uefa Cup. “I believe in him; he has the experience and knowledge to bring Italy back to the top,” said Montella in the lead up to this game. “He is the right person. Our relationship? We don’t socialise, but there’s mutual respect, esteem, and affection after our year at Sampdoria.”
We’ll see if Mancini changes his XI tonight, the one that lost to Belgium looked tired and lacking in ideas.
