France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have all eased their paths through to the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals after another headline-grabbing week of European football.
The UEFA Nations League 2024 betting odds have picked out this Big 5 as the potential title winners, and there will be a scrap to join them with Croatia, Denmark, and the Netherlands all in good shape.
While four of the five were already confirmed in the knockouts, Portugal still had work to do when they met Poland on Friday night and boy, did they deliver.
Cristiano Ronaldo still knows how to dominate the UEFA Nations League 2024 highlights, in a match we previewed here at SBOTOP, as he scored a brace including a spectacular overhead kick, as the Selecao ran out 5-1 winners.
Rafael Leao set the Portuguese on the road before CR7 fired home a penalty to make it 2-0. Premier League stars Pedro Neto and Bruno Fernandes piled the agony onto Poland, without their main man Robert Lewandowski, before Ronaldo added a late fifth with his spectacular over head smash.
Dominik Marczuk scored a consolation for the sorry Poles, who need to avoid defeat against Scotland on Monday to escape relegation. A John McGinn goal kept the Scots faint survival hopes alive as they bat 10-man Croatia 1-0.
Elsewhere on Friday night, Spain cemented their top spot in Group A4 with a 2-1 win over Denmark at the Tella Parken in Copenhagen, a result which leaves the Danes in second place on seven points and two ahead of Serbia.
Mikel Oyarzabal continued his fine form with a well-taken opener. The Real Sociedad star scored the winner in the Euro 2024 final, and he captained his club side to an impressive win over La Liga runaway leaders Barcelona last week.
Ayoze Perez scored a second just after the break before Gustav Isaksen pulled one back late on. Denmark have a shootout away to Serbia on Monday night.
Elsewhere in Group A, Italy continued their impressive form with a 1-0 win away to Belgium while France, without Kylian Mbappe, drew 0-0 at home to Israel.
England and Greece battle for promotion
A win for England over Greece on Thursday closed the gap at the top of their table, and they are now locked together on 12 points in Group B2 after England coasted to a 3-0 win in Athens, a result which avenged the defeat inflicted on the Three Lions at Wembley last month.
Lee Carsley’s side are now in pole position to win promotion back to the A League, as Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins re-affirmed his position as a natural successor to England goal machine Harry Kane.
Watkins applied a clinical finish to round off a smart move, and the Three Lions doubled their lead when the ball bounced off the post and hit keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos and rolled into the net after Jude Bellingham had crashed his shot against the upright.
England keeper Jordan Pickford had to be alert to palm away a Fotis Ionnidis effort, and the visitors were out of sight when Curtis Jones scored his first international goal with a clever backheel late in the game.
Carsley’s men will win promotion if they can beat the Republic of Ireland on Sunday night, but if they do slip up, then Greece will be ready to pounce as they face Finland.
A goal from Brighton striker Evan Ferguson gave the Irish a narrow 1-0 win over the Fins, a result which leaves Ireland in the relegation play-offs and Finland consigned to relegation to League C.
Elsewhere in League B, Austria will be promoted from Group 3 if they can beat Slovenia on Sunday to follow up their 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan, while Slovenia were whacked 4-1 by Norway with Erling Haaland on target.
But if Austria fall flat against Slovenia, then Norway can sneak in and win promotion with a victory over Kazakhstan.
In Group C2, Romania’s clash with Kosova was suspended at 0-0 and later abandoned. The Kosovo players were offended by pro-Serbia chants from the Romanian fans, and they walked off the pitch, causing the referee to cancel the game.
The same thing happened the last time the two nations met back in September 2023 when Romanian fans chanted “Kosovo is Serbia.”
So that’s the first week of the November international break over folks, and the remaining matters will be resolved over the next five days, with the quarter-final lineup confirmed, relegations from and promotions to the League A, and a top draw contest between Italy and France for the top spot in Group A2.
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