Italy's victory in the Netherlands, Holland's double and the successes of Lokomotiv's legionnaires: what were the memories of the League of Nations round 2 matches

Italy wins with correct squad

In the central match of Monday in the League of Nations, the Netherlands national team took the Italians.

And compared to the game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Roberto Mancini's charges were unrecognizable.

The coach changed half of the starting lineup and this time did not forget to include Giorgio Chiellini in it.

He also released Ciro Immobile from the first minutes, whose absence on the field for most of the first match caused criticism from the fans.

Dutch mentor Dwight Lodewigs, by contrast, decided not to make major changes after the victory over Poland.

He only replaced the only goal scorer of that game, Stephen Bergwijn, with Manchester United rookie Donnie van de Beck.

Mancini's rearrangements did their job.

In the first half, the Italians completely outplayed the home team and had several excellent chances to open the score.

Particularly memorable was Nicolo Zaniolo's side scissors kick, after which the ball flew over the crossbar.

True, the Roma midfielder soon had to leave the field due to injury.

The guests still played enough for the goal and opened the scoring in time compensated for the first half.

The quick combination started on the left flank was completed by Nicolo Barella's shot with a pass to Immobile.

After the break, the Dutch made attempts to recoup, but each time they had to deal with Gianluigi Donnarumma, who stubbornly did not want to miss.

The Italians also tried to increase the advantage, but all their moments were left without implementation.

Especially offensive should have been Moise Keene, who did not hit the empty net in stoppage time.

But one goal was enough for Mancini's wards to not only take away three points from Amsterdam, but also to lead their group.

Poland's first success and Rybus' assist

Bosnia and Herzegovina, which hosted the Polish team, could catch up with Italy.

The first half hour of the match really seemed that the guests would again have nothing to count on without Robert Lewandowski.

The starting onslaught of the home team was crowned with a penalty, which was converted by Haris Hayradinovich.

But after that, the Poles managed to turn the game 180 degrees.

In the last minutes of the first half, they entrenched themselves at the gate of Asmir Begovic and leveled the score - after the corner was scored by the captain of the national team Kamil Glick.

After the break, the Balkans never recovered from the conceded ball and continued the vague game, the result of which was a goal conceded in the 67th minute.

Maciej Rybus successfully hung Kamila Grosicki from the flank on the head, and he brought the Polish national team the first victory in the League of Nations - two years ago, she did not manage to defeat her rivals in the group.

Holland's performance and Romanian implementation

Before the current UEFA Nations League, Norway's top star Erling Holland had not had a single goal for the national team.

Now on his account there are already three goals, thanks to which he became the leaders of the tournament's scorer race.

He scored the first in the match lost to Austria, and two more helped defeat Northern Ireland on its field on Monday.

The meeting ended with a score of 5: 1 in favor of the Scandinavians.

The Borussia forward scored twice from the game, first breaking through from a distance, and then fleeing into a quick break.

Alexander Serlot also scored a double, and started the rout Mohamed Elyunoussi, who distinguished himself in the second minute.

The Irish responded with only a goal by Patrick McNair.

They last conceded five goals 18 years ago against Spain.

In another match of the first group of League B, Austria hosted Romania.

The fight also turned out to be effective.

The home team played the first number and significantly surpassed the opponent in control of the ball and shots on goal, but they were still defeated.

The Romanians responded to two accurate strikes by the Austrians with three goals, despite the fact that in total they hit the target of someone else's goal only four times.

Thanks to the three points earned, Mirel Radoy's wards led their quartet at least until the October matches.

The defeat of the Czech Republic after the change of the line-up and the lost victory of Slovakia

The Czech national team after the victory over Slovakia was covered by an outbreak of coronavirus recorded among the team's staff.

Because of this, head coach David Golubek had to disband the players from the clubs and recruit completely new players from the local championship before meeting with Scotland.

The renewed Czech team was able to open an account already in the 11th minute.

Jakub Peshek scored with a pass from Stanislav Tetzl, who was one of two players in this squad who had previously donned the national team's equipment.

However, inexperienced Czechs were still almost impossible to resist the played Scots.

As a result, first Lyndon Dykes equalized the score, and at the beginning of the second half, Ryan Christie converted a penalty.

The islanders extended their unbeaten streak to five matches and at the same time led their quartet in the League of Nations.

The Israeli national team could share the leadership in the group with the Scots, but it barely escaped defeat in a meeting with Slovakia.

The guests opened the scoring in the 14th minute thanks to the goal of the former Orenburg striker Michal Dyurish and led almost to the very final whistle.

But the home team put so much effort to get at least one point in this match that in stoppage time they were rewarded with a goal by Eli Elmkis.

Status quo in League C

The fifth game day of the League of Nations began with a match in Alma-Ata, where the national team of Kazakhstan hosted Belarus.

In the first half, no goals were recorded, and soon after the break, the guests opened the score.

Defender Maksim Bordachev, familiar to the fans of "Tom", accurately hit from the corner of the penalty area in the 53rd minute.

The Kazakhstanis managed to quickly catch up with the rival thanks to the error of the goalkeeper of the Belarusians Alexander Gutor.

He did not keep the ball after a long-range shot, and Abat Aimbetov played on finishing.

The match would have ended in a draw, if not for the reciprocal oversight of the home team.

Gafurzhan Suyumbaev sent the ball straight to Vitaly Lisakovich when he was removed from the strike.

The newcomer of Lokomotiv ran to the empty net and brought Belarus the first victory in this League of Nations draw.

In another match of the 4th group of League C, the Lithuanians beat the Albanians on the road thanks to a goal by Donatas Kazlauskas.

For the Balts, this victory has become especially important - they have not won official matches since October 2016, when they defeated Malta, and they have not won away since September 2014, when they were visiting San Marino.

As a result of two rounds, all teams in this group scored three points.