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It was a rough night for two Qatar World Cup contenders with England and Germany suffering demoralising defeats in the Nations League.
England’s sorry campaign continued on Friday as Giacomo Raspadori’s 68th-minute strike gave Italy a deserved 1-0 win that relegated the shot-shy visitors to the second-tier League B and kept the Italians in the hunt to top Group 3.
In Leipzig, visiting Hungary handed Germany a first defeat under their new coach Hansi Flick and with the 1-0 scoreline ended the hosts’ chances of reaching the finals of the competition.
Adam Szalai netted a skilful winner in the 17th minute as Germany lacked ideas and were also frustrated by RB Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Hungary maintained first place in Group A3 with 10 points from five games and only need a draw in their final game on Monday against European champions Italy to qualify for next year’s finals.
But in Milan there was precious little to provide optimism for England’s fans with Qatar only two months away but at least they will be going, unlike Italy, still trying to come to terms with their failure to qualify for the second World Cup in a row either side of winning the European Championship.
In a game of few chances at the San Siro, the hosts looked the more ambitious side and settled the game through Raspadori’s crisp finish.
England barely managed an effort on goal and looked unrecognisable from the team who went 22 games unbeaten until June – not counting the Euro 2020 final shootout defeat by Italy.
They have scored only one goal, a penalty, in their five Nations League games going into their final match at home to Germany on Monday.
After Italy started with a five-minute attacking flurry, highlighted by Gianluca Scamacca’s header pushed onto a post by Nick Pope, the first half developed into cautious probings from both sides with neither goalkeeper further challenged.
The risk-averse approach was perhaps understandable bearing in mind that in their last outings in June England were hammered 4-0 at home by Hungary while Italy lost 5-2 to Germany, but that was of little consolation to the bored 50,000-plus crowd.
Italy improved after the break and settled the game when Raspadori neatly brought down a long ball by Leonardo Bonucci on the edge of the box and, given far too much time to consider his options, cut in onto his right foot and fired past Pope.
Manolo Gabbiadini, winning his first cap in five years, forced Pope into a good save, while the impressive Federico Dimarco hit the post as Italy finished strongly.
England were unable to manage more than a couple of Harry Kane snap shots and although manager Gareth Southgate was booed by the visiting fans as he went to applaud them he took a remarkably upbeat view of the game.
“It’s difficult for me to be too critical of the performance. We had more possession, more shots, more shots on target,” said Southgate.
“For large parts of the game we played very well. We didn’t deal with the decisive moment defensively. We had moments where we had the chance to be decisive in their final third when our quality wasn’t quite right.
“It’s a spell where ultimately results are going to be the thing that everyone reacts to but I thought there were a lot of positives for us as a team tonight. I completely understand because of the result that is not going to be the reaction.”
Meanwhile Richarlison has scored twice as Brazil beat Ghana 3-0 in Le Havre in their penultimate World Cup warm-up.
Neymar pulled the strings in the first half, setting up both of Tottenham frontman Richarlison’s goals after Marquinhos put them into an early lead.
There was a late booking for Neymar after he took too firm a nibble at Mohammed Kudus, the player who scored for Ajax against Liverpool in the Champions League.
But nothing could spoil Brazil’s Friday night in Normandy as Tite’s team wrapped up a convincing win.
The opening goal came in the ninth minute when Raphinha’s devilishly powerful corner from the right swung in and was met with a thumping header from Marquinhos.
Raphinha, Neymar and Vinicius Junior failed to take chances before Richarlison showed how it is done in the 28th minute, sweeping a crisp and low first-time shot into the bottom-right corner from Neymar’s pass.
Brazil’s third arrived in the 40th minute when Neymar took on set-piece duties on the left and whipped a dangerous free-kick into the near post where Richarlison’s header gave Jojo Wollacott little chance.
Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams made his Ghana debut, coming on for the start of the second half after switching allegiance from Spain. Brazil also threw on Bremer for a debut, the Juventus central defender taking the place of Thiago Silva.
Brazil play Tunisia in Paris on Tuesday, their last game before their World Cup Group G opener against Serbia on November. 24.
© AAP
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