It was easy for England to beat Finland 3-1 away in the Nations League on Sunday, while Austria beat Norway 5–0. In the first half, Jack Grealish put England ahead. In the last 20 minutes, Trent Alexander-Arnold curled in a great free kick, and Declan Rice sealed the win. However, Arttu Hoskonen scored a late comeback goal for Finland.
It was easier to tell this England team apart from the one that lost to Greece at Wembley on Thursday. Interim manager Lee Carsley made the changes because his last attempt to play without a goal didn’t work.
“They scored three good goals.” Tonight we did a lot better. The game was a lot easier for us to handle. We had a lot of the ball, made a lot of plays, and had chances. We can do better, though.
In the 18th minute, Manchester City’s Grealish broke the tie by putting the finishing touch on a well-planned 17-pass move.
Angel Gomes, who started in the middle of the field, played a smart pass through the Finnish defense. Grealish ran on to it and rolled it past the goalie.
Finland created several good opportunities to equalise but failed to properly trouble Dean Henderson in the England goal.
Alexander-Arnold, deployed at left-back rather than his normal right-back position at Liverpool, doubled the lead on 74 minutes when he whipped a 25-yard free-kick into the top corner.
Rice tucked away substitute Ollie Watkins cross with six minutes left to ensure England’s third Nations League win in four Group B2 games.
Finland stay rooted to the bottom of the table having lost all their games, but they did at least double their goal tally for the campaign when Hoskonen headed home from a corner in the 87th minute.
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Greece kept their three-point lead at the top of the group over England by beating the Republic of Ireland 2-0 in Athens.
Tasos Bakasetas powered a drive from the edge of the box beyond Caoimhin Kelleher early in the second period and Petros Mantalos netted in stoppage time to protect the Greeks’ 100 percent record with a fourth-consecutive win.
The match was Greece’s first at home since George Baldock, their English-born Greek international, was found dead in his swimming pool in Athens on Wednesday.
Marko Arnautovic got a brace as Austria thrashed Norway 5-1 in Linz.
The Inter Milan attacker scored early in both halves, either side of a first-half Alexander Sorloth equaliser, before Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch and Michael Gregoritsch finished a dominant win for Austria.
Arnautovic put the hosts in front on eight minutes with a hammered strike from 20 yards that flew in off the crossbar.
Sorloth nipped in to head a leveller for Norway six minutes prior to the break.
But the Austrian leader put his side back in front in the 49th minute when he dispatched a penalty-kick after Christoph Baumgartner was fouled in the box.
Defenders Lienhart and Posch extended the lead with two towering headers two minutes either side of the hour mark.
Gregoritsch then scored a third header of the half for the Austrians as they made the game safe and moved second in Group B3.
Manchester City star Haaland had a night to forget with the Austrian defence easily subduing the Norwegian captain whose only real chance was a shot which came back off the post in the fifth minute.
Slovenia sit third in the group, although level on seven points with both Norway and Austria, after winning 1-0 in Kazakhstan courtesy of a second-half goal from forward Jan Mlakar.
On Monday, Belgium host 2021 Nations League champions France while old rivals Germany and Netherlands meet in Munich.
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