Incredible denouement: how Italy reached the Final Four of the Nations League, and England and Germany scored six goals for two

Pope's fatal mistake

Before the start of the new season of the League of Nations, few could have imagined that England and Germany would lose their chances of getting into the Final Four by the last round, and the British would completely take the last place in the group.

But, throwing off unnecessary responsibility, the teams gave a bright match with six goals - 3:3.

The first half did not foreshadow the spectacle gathered at Wembley.

The hosts had a slight advantage, but failed to convert their chances.

In addition, they lost the main central defender John Stones due to injury, who had to be replaced by Kyle Walker.

And immediately after the break, the position of the Three Lions became critical.

First, Ilkay Gundogan converted a penalty awarded for a foul on Jamal Musial, and then Kai Havertz delivered a beautiful sweeping shot into the far top corner from outside the penalty area.

Local fans slowly pulled out of the stands.

But the wards of Gareth Southgate did not give up, but got angry and made an impressive comeback.

In just 11 minutes, they scored three times and turned the tide of an unsuccessful confrontation.

Hope partners gave the ball to Luke Shaw.

Substitutes Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount then set up a second goal.

The Arsenal midfielder pulled the projectile forward, and the Chelsea midfielder delivered an accurate shot.

Finally, Harry Kane shot accurately from the penalty mark.

In parallel, the striker set a historic achievement.

He became the first football player who managed to score in four matches in a row with the German national team.

In 1909 - 1912, a similar series was issued by the Hungarian Imre Schlosser.

However, the success of the British was prevented by the mistake of Nick Pope.

He deflected a shot from Leroy Zane right in front of him and Havertz calmly restored the status quo and scored a brace.

Thus, the British failed to win a single match in the current LN draw and for the first time in almost 30 years gave out a six-match period without victories.

Raspadori's fateful goal

Also, no one could have imagined that Hungary would almost take the first place in the “death quartet”.

The team of Marco Rossi almost performed a miracle, beating England twice and taking over Germany on the road.

He approached the home meeting with Italy as a leader with a two-point lead over the competitor.

That is, the hosts were satisfied with a draw.

But the reigning European champions gathered at the decisive moment and snatched a ticket to the Final Four from their opponent.

And again, the main character in their composition was Napoli striker Giacomo Raspadori.

Roberto Mancini again entrusted him with a place at the start, and the 22-year-old forward scored the winning goal.

A few days ago, he became the author of the decisive goal in a duel with England, and opened the scoring in Budapest.

Finally, everything became clear at the beginning of the second half of the meeting, when the Hungarians failed in defense, and Federico Dimarco closed his partner's cross from a couple of meters.

To the credit of Rossi's wards, they did not give up and staged a real assault on the gates of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

But the PSG football player caught courage that evening and did not allow himself to be upset.

The goalkeeper made six saves, and his triple save was especially memorable when he twice coped with finishing at close range.

Thus, the Italians made it to the playoffs of the League of Nations for the second time in a row.

Last season they lost in the semi-finals to Spain, but in the match for third place they were stronger than Belgium.

And Mancini, having won the 34th victory at the head of his native team, came out on the third place in this indicator in its history.

He shares it with the legendary Arrigo Sacchi.

Ahead are no less well-deserved Vittorio Pozzo (63) and Enzo Bearzot (40).

The perfect way out of Puskas

Some teams, having solved the problem of improving in the class, do not show the best results in the last round.

A striking example of this trend was the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The future rival of Russia ended the tournament with a devastating away defeat from Romania (1:4) and allowed the opponent to take revenge for the failure in the first round.

However, the coaching staff of Ivaylo Petev left many leaders in reserve and gave a chance to the reservists who could not prove themselves.

But the opponent, on the contrary, worked substitutions.

Gheorghe Puskas, having appeared on the field during the second half, managed to score a double.

The only pleasant moment for the guests was the next goal of 36-year-old captain Edin Dzeko.

He also started the meeting on the bench and entered the game only closer to the final whistle.

But six minutes was enough for the experienced striker to close the canopy from the flank and score the 64th goal in the Bosnians.

And in the current draw of the League of Nations, he scored three times.

Another ball of Kvaratskhelia

The Georgian national team, even having solved the problem, unlike the Bosnians, finished the tournament on a positive note.

However, the wards of Willy Sagnol were obliged to beat Gibraltar on the road, which they did - 2:1.

Thus, the Caucasian team, having scored 16 points out of 18 possible, showed the best result in League C. Turkey and Kazakhstan have 13 points each, and Greece, at best, will finish the season with 15th.

Moreover, if other divisions are taken into account, only the Netherlands can match it, also knocking out 16.

At the same time, in addition to Gibraltar, the Georgians got quite unpleasant rivals in the quartet - North Macedonia and strong Bulgaria, a participant in the last European Championship.

But both in four head-to-head matches conceded ten goals and only once parted ways with the world leader.

As a result, the team very easily advanced to League B on the second attempt.

And the main star, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, made a decisive contribution to its success.

The Napoli newcomer scored once in five out of six meetings and assisted partners twice.

In the tournament scorer race, he is second only to Erling Haaland (six goals).

And in the list of the best snipers in the history of the national team, he is in the top 9 with ten goals.

Shota Arveladze (27) is in the lead, but it seems that the young midfielder is quite capable of breaking his record.

Anier's easy double

The teams of the Baltic countries also performed successfully in the current draw.

If Lithuania flew out of league C, then Latvia and Estonia proceeded in the opposite direction.

The last one was especially bright.

Wards of Thomas Heberli became the only team in the tournament that managed without point losses, adjusted for the low level of opponents (Malta and San Marino) and getting into the group with only three participants.

So San Marino at home in the last round failed to impose real competition on the favorite, conceding four unanswered goals.

At the same time, the guests could not break through the hosts' defense until the 38th minute, but then they were unstoppable.

31-year-old striker Henri Anier scored a double as part of the winners, who simultaneously overcame the mark of 20 goals in the national team.