The collapse of favorites: how Hungary shocked Germany, and England disgraced in the League of Nations

Raspadori's Fateful Shot

Before the start of the next season of the League of Nations, few could have imagined that the England team would leave the elite division.

Despite the fact that she got Italy and Germany as rivals, she did not look like an outsider in group 3, because Gareth Southgate's wards almost won the home championship of the continent only last year.

However, in the new tournament they faced a uniform failure, the crown of which was two defeats from Hungary.

Particularly painful was the home defeat in Wolverhampton with four unanswered goals conceded.

After that, the British needed to beat Squadra Azzurra away so as not to lose their chances of maintaining a place in League A, and at the same time take revenge for the defeat in the Euro 2020 final.

But it failed to do so.

The guests, although more often in possession of the ball and inflicted more shots (14 vs. 10), did not create many dangerous moments.

The Italian counter-attacks looked much more interesting, but the reserve goalkeeper of the Three Lions, Nick Pope, made several saves in the first half.

But in the 69th minute, he was powerless when the most experienced Leonardo Bonucci with one transfer across the entire field found young Giacomo Raspadori in someone else's penalty area.

The forward calmly worked the ball under the right and shot into the far corner.

The British had enough time to escape, but they failed to recoup and could rather miss more.

So the team from Foggy Albion sensationally left the elite division.

In addition, she has not been able to beat Italy in an official match for 45 years.

Incredible goal by Salai

But from Hungary, on the contrary, no one expected to reach the Final Four.

However, the team, still in the final stage of Euro 2020, having fallen into the "group of death", took away points from France and Germany, and then continued to upset the giants in the League of Nations.

As already mentioned, England suffered twice, but Germany managed to take away a draw from Budapest.

Now the Bundestim needed a win at home to overtake the competitor and rise to the first line.

However, the guests who believed in themselves took the lead already in the 17th minute thanks to a stunning goal from captain Adam Salai, who spent most of his career in the Bundesliga.

Taking advantage of Dominik Soboslai's neat pitch from the corner, the striker moved the projectile with his heel into the far corner through Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

In the future, the hosts had no choice but to go forward, but the opponent defended well.

Only after the break, the favorite with the transition to a four-back scheme began to have chances, and Thomas Muller even restored the status quo on the scoreboard.

However, the referee immediately canceled the goal due to an offside position from Jonas Hoffmann, who assisted him.

In the end, however, rather Hungary had the opportunity to increase the advantage in the long run.

For the Germans, the defeat at home and the parallel success of Italy meant the end of the struggle for leadership - they would not rise above the second position.

But the wards of Marco Rossi remained at the top.

Now everything will be decided in the confrontation with Italy in Budapest in the last round.

Moreover, the hosts, who are two points ahead of the pursuer, will also be satisfied with a draw in this meeting.

The most important goal of Demirovich

Meanwhile, the first team to advance to League A was Bosnia and Herzegovina, the future rival of Russia.

Last season, she already played in the elite division, but flew out of there.

However, the team proved they deserved a comeback by solving the problem with a round to go.

The confrontation between the Bosnians and Montenegro in Zenica turned out to be fateful.

The hosts were ahead of the pursuer by one point and, if successful, became out of reach.

As a result, they scored the only goal in added time to the first half.

It is noteworthy that for Ermedin Demirovich this goal is his debut for the national team.

Of course, the 36-year-old captain Edin Dzeko, who assisted his partner, could not help but take part in the goal.

In general, in the current season of the tournament, he scored four points in the “goal + pass” system (2 + 2).

In the second half, the guests struggled to bounce back in order not to let the opponent win, but another veteran Ibrahim Shehic made a couple of spectacular saves.

Another "concert" of Kvaratskhelia

Following Kazakhstan, the team of another post-Soviet country, Georgia, managed to win a ticket to League B.

Wards of Willy Sagnol also went through the tournament in one breath and in the first four matches with Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Gibraltar scored 10 points out of 12 possible.

Thus, the victory over the Macedonians in Tbilisi guaranteed them a promotion in the class, and practically no one doubted the success of the leader, since on the road in June he completely defeated the opponent - 3: 0.

At the Boris Paichadze stadium, the guests lasted a little more than half an hour, after which they still missed.

And Khvicha Kvaratskhelia again became the main character.

First, after his cross, Bojan Miovski cut the ball into his own net.

And in the second half, the midfielder scored on his own.

This time, everything was done by Bud Zivzivadze, who took away the projectile in the center of the field, dragged it to someone else's penalty area and rolled it to an empty partner.

The newcomer Napoli made the most significant contribution to the team's final success.

He scored once in all matches except one, home to Bulgaria, and gave two assists.

Now, in the scorer race, Hvicha is second only to Erling Haaland himself, who upset his rivals five times.

And according to the “goal + pass” system (4 + 2), the midfielder is completely in the lead along with the Norwegian and Misha Batshuayi.

The Georgians not only made it to League B on the second attempt, but will again take part in the playoffs for the right to play in the final stage of Euro 2024 if they cannot solve the problem directly.

Good luck with Anier

Meanwhile, the place of Georgia and Kazakhstan in League C will also be taken by Estonia.

The Balts immediately returned to the third strongest division, from where they flew out at the end of last season.

In the company with San Marino and Malta, they were considered clear favorites and managed to justify this title.

However, the decisive home victory over the Maltese was not easy for Thomas Heberly's wards.

In the sixth minute added to the first half, Rauno Sappinen converted a penalty awarded after watching VAR, and Jean Borg received a direct red card.

But the guests at the beginning of the second half of the meeting also equalized the score from eleven, and then, in the minority, adequately defended their possessions.

However, shortly before the final whistle, they still did not keep track of the fresh Henry Anier, who converted a one-on-one exit and decided the outcome of the confrontation.