With the UEFA Euros 2020 been postponed to next year due to COVID-19, the UEFA Nations League which was supposed to take place in 2021 is taking place now. Last year was the first season of the Nations League which was won by Portugal after beating Netherlands 1-0 in the final.
The Nations League is a new format introduced by UEFA to remove friendlies. There are 4 levels of league namely League A,B,C and D. Each League has 4 groups except League D which has 2 groups.
League rankings are based on international ranking and Teams which finish 4 i.e at the bottom are relegated to League B,C and D while the top team in League B,C AND D are promoted to the top. The teams which finish top of their groups in League A then consist the knockout matches i.e Semis and Final.
In League A the most anticipated fixture of Round 1 was between Spain and Germany. Spain had a disappointing run last year where the finished 3rd while Germany were yet to win a game in Nations League.
Germany looked on course to win their first match when Timo Werner scored in the 51st minute. Spain kept on pushing and managed to found an equalizer in the 6th minute of injury time when Jose Gaya turned in from close range. Some would Spain were lucky as Germany missed a lot of great chances in the first half.
Defending Champions Portugal thrashed Croatia without their Captain Cristiano Ronaldo 4-1 thanks to goals from Cancelo,Jota, Felix and Andre Silva.
England survived a late scare against Iceland. Kyle Walker was sent off for a second yellow in the 70th minute for England. The Three Lions would get a late penalty after Raheem Sterling's shot was blocked by the hand of Ingason who was also on a yellow and was shown a second as the match finished 10 man a piece. Sterling converted the Penalty in 1st minute of injury time to put England in front. A minute Iceland won a penalty themselves after Joe Gomez brought down substitute Fridjonsson. Iceland failed to convert the penalty as they nearly missed out a deserving one point.
The other results were-
Ukraine 2-1 Switzerland
Italy 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Netherlands 1-0 Poland
Denmark 0-2 Belgium
Sweden 0-1 France
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