Staff Reporter.
France and Italy qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the revamped Nations League on Thursday as England got its revenge on Greece.
The Azzurri beat Belgium 1-0 with Sandro Tonali scoring his first international goal.
The Newcastle midfielder netted from six yards from Giovanni di Lorenzo’s pass in Brussels.
Belgium went close to an equaliser with Wout Faes’ header from Leandro Trossard’s cross hitting the post.
France will also play in the quarter-finals in March after a goalless draw with Israel.
Les Bleus failed to score with any of their 24 shots, Israel keeper Daniel Peretz making eight saves.
Stade de France was sparsely packed for security reasons related to the Israel- Gaza war.
Italy and France play on Sunday with top spot up for grabs. The Israel v Belgium game will decide who is relegated automatically and who faces a relegation-promotion play-off.
Meanwhile England won 3-0 in Athens thanks to strikes by Ollie Watkins and debutant Curtis Jones, either side of an own-goal, and that made amends for a humbling first loss to Greece last month at Wembley Stadium. England captain Harry Kane was left out of the team, with Watkins preferred up front, and came on as a second-half substitute.
England has one more match under interim coach Lee Carsley before Thomas Tuchel begins his tenure in January as the country’s foreign-born manager
Elsewhere prolific Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was again among the scorers for Norway in its 4-1 win in Slovenia.
Haaland moved onto 19 goals for the season for club and country with one of Norway’s strikes against Slovenia that kept the team tied on 10 points with Austria in their League B group and virtually guaranteed it being among the second seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw on Dec. 13. Austria beat Kazakhstan 2-0.