Now Austria must tremble
France averts premature Nations League relegation
09/22/2022, 11:59 p.m
Four games without a win put world champions France under a lot of pressure in the Nations League. But the team around superstar Kylian Mbappé exists – and is now making Austria tremble before relegation from League A. Turkey offers a real spectacle against Luxembourg.
Kylian Mbappé’s French can still win, the Netherlands defeat Robert Lewandowski and Kevin De Bruyne lets Belgium celebrate: Two months before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, three of the co-favorites passed their exams on the penultimate day of the Nations League more or less confidently.
Soccer world champion France has averted the threat of relegation from the Nations League for the time being, instead Austria with coach Ralf Rangnick now has to worry about remaining in League A. The French came in Paris in a direct duel to a 2-0 (0-0). The Alpine Republic is thus last in Group 1, France moved up to third place with their first win of the season.
Mbappé (56th) and Olivier Giroud (65th) shot out the victory for the French. Former Bremen player Marko Arnautovic made his 103rd international appearance for the Austrians, catching up with record player Andreas Herzog. Austria need to beat Croatia on Sunday and hope for a France blunder in Denmark to avoid relegation. In the fight for group victory, however, Croatia has the best cards. The vice world champion took over the lead in the standings with a 2-1 (0-0) win over rival Denmark.
spectacle of Turkey
Meanwhile, the Dutch also won 2-0 (1-0) against Poland around world footballer Lewandowski in Warsaw and are about to advance to the final round in Group A4. There, Elftal (13 points) is three points ahead of Belgium, who won 2-1 (2-0) against Wales, but only have a theoretical chance of reaching the finals.
Cody Gakpo (13th), who was being courted by numerous top clubs in the summer, scored for the Dutch before Steven Bergwijn (60th) got the final score. In the parallel game in Brussels, star playmaker De Bruyne (10th) from Manchester City first scored the lead and later made it 2-0 through former Dortmund player Michy Batshuayi (37th). Kieffer Moore (50th) shortened for the Welsh. On Sunday, a narrow defeat against pursuers Belgium is enough for the team of Bonds coach Louis van Gaal to ensure victory in the group.
National coach Stefan Kuntz and the Turkish national team delivered a real spectacle, returning to the B-League with a wild 3:3 (2:2) against Luxembourg. In Istanbul, the Turks, who are absent in Qatar, came back from three deficits and just avoided an embarrassment. In the end, Ismail Yüksek saved the lucky point just before the end.