More success for England and Italy?

Another international break is upon us, only a few weeks after the last. There will, therefore, be no top level European club football this weekend, but we will instead be entertained with another round of international fixtures as European nations try to negotiate their way towards the next major tournament. We take a look at some of the biggest matches in the upcoming days below.

Italy vs Belgium

Italy have had an excellent start to their Nations League campaign as they have two wins from two, including an impressive win over France. This is their first home Nations League fixture and they will go into it with confidence against another tough opponent, Belgium. Italy have a good record overall in this competition, they have won five of their last six matches and will be optimistic of another appearance in the finals. Italy have an excellent record against Belgium, winning five of the last six, but it is also worth noting that they don’t have the best defensive record recently as they haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last six matches. Davide Frattesi scored in both matches in September and he has been on the winning side in every one of his six appearances for his national team. 

Belgium have been poor defensively of late, only keeping two clean sheets in their last six international matches. They have only managed two wins in that same timeframe so confidence is not at its highest in the Belgian camp. They beat Israel last month but then lost to France with some dodgy defending combined with a lack of finishing ability resulting in a poor result. The Belgians will be missing both Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne for these matches, with both being a big loss although perhaps giving an opportunity for someone new to grab their chance. Belgium have not beaten a top ten ranked team since June 2021 and it seems somewhat unlikely they will break that record in this tricky encounter. Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard is likely to play a key attacking role but we shouldn’t be expecting a high-scoring match here.

England vs Greece

Interim manager Lee Carsley did his chances of being given the job on a full time basis no harm at all as England managed two 2-0 wins in the first round of Nations League fixtures. Their demotion to League B means that, realistically, England should win every match but there is still the potential for slip-ups. The chance of an upset taking place at Wembley is unlikely so this should be a relatively straightforward win over Greece. Carsley seems to want to instil a more attacking style of play, something that will please England fans who grew tired of the cautious approach adopted by the previous regime. England are unbeaten in their last nine meetings against Greece and it will be interesting to see what team Carsley selects, as one might expect quite a few players have dropped out due to ‘niggles’, so the chance for some youngsters to impress is likely to be on the table. The likes of Declan Rice and Cole Palmer are likely to be given starts but one player who will be unhappy at being overlooked again is Tottenham’s James Maddison, who must be wondering what he needs to do to be selected. 

Greece will be looking for their first ever win over England, but the odds are not in their favour. The fact that they have not even managed to score in seven of those matches doesn’t make for good reading so they will at least be hoping to get on the scoresheet at Wembley. Greece have had a great start to their Nations League campaign, winning their opening two matches, and they are actually top of the group ahead of England on goal difference. They have failed to win any of their last six matches against teams ranked higher than them though, so that is certainly a concern going into this match. 

Germany vs Netherlands 

This is always one of Europe’s most interesting football rivalries and these two football mad nations will clash again on Monday evening in the Allianz Arena in Munich. Both teams have four points from their opening two matches but it is Germany who are top of the table with a goal difference of plus five compared to plus three. Germany started their campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of Hungary before travelling to Amsterdam and drawing with the Netherlands in an entertaining clash last month. Germany are in very good form of late, they are unbeaten in their last eleven matches within ninety minutes. Their only blemish came in the summer when they were controversially beaten by Spain in extra time. They have won four of the last ten meetings against the Dutch and will be hoping that home advantage will allow them to claim another three points and take them away from their opponents at the top of the League A table. 

The Netherlands will hope that they will be able to win on the road against Hungary so that they can go into this match level with Germany, giving them an extra incentive to beat their hosts and leapfrog them at the top of the table. They have six wins from the last ten matches and are looking to put their elimination from at the semi-final stage against England this summer well behind them. Goalscoring doesn’t appear to be an issue of late as they have scored two or more goals in nine of their last ten matches but they do perhaps need to try to tighten up at the back. The Netherlands only have two wins against Germany in the last ten so they will be somewhat disappointed not to have managed to beat them in the previous fixture, knowing that this one is likely to be the more challenging of the two. The home team will undoubtedly be relatively strong favourites to win but the Dutch will certainly be hoping to take something from the game. 

Odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.

Last updated: 09.10.24