It’s the final International break of the year which gives us the final set of Nations League matches for 2024. All of Europe’s top leagues will be taking a break for the next 10 days and the players will be joining up with their national teams to try to help them out. earn more points in their respective Nations League groups.
As usual, the first round of matches starts on Thursday and the final match will take place next Tuesday, which then gives the players time to return to their clubs and prepare for their weekend matches. The following is a selection of matches that will take place in the next few days:
Belgium vs Italy
Belgium will have to endure a difficult UEFA Nations League cycle this time as their team appears to be in transition. Many of the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ are no longer around and they are having difficulty building a team with the right mentality.
Results have not gone their way and their best hope is to qualify for the relegation playoffs in League A. They need a win in this game to keep their slim hopes of progressing alive, but they will face Italy, a team they have never beaten. in competitive matches since 1972. They have beaten them in friendlies but even that is a poor record of just four wins compared to sixteen losses.
Manager Domenico Tedesco needs some positive results as he has just one win in his last six games in any competition, so his future is certainly under pressure.
Italy will know that a draw is enough to secure their place in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals and they will be optimistic about continuing their unbeaten run.
They have three wins from four matches so far, but Belgium are the only team so far able to take points from them, with a 2-2 draw in their previous match. Italy have won both away games in this Nations League, including an impressive victory in France. As has been the case with recent International matches, both sides have seen several players withdraw due to injury, meaning the opportunity is open for some of the newcomers to make a good impression.
Greece vs England
Greece are on the cusp of making history as they could be promoted to League A for the first time. All they need to achieve this is to avoid defeat against England and they will feel more than capable of doing that after beating their opponents at Wembley recently.
The 2-1 win was a big step for the Greek side and will boost their confidence in their bid to break another record and beat England in Greece for the first time. England have won all four matches played in Greece but the hosts have a 100% record in League B and they have eight wins from eleven home Nations League games overall.
England will know that defeat at home to Greece was a bad result and severely dented their hopes of returning to League A. A win here for Lee Carsley’s men would repair the damage, leaving them level on points with the hosts. .
Failure to progress from League B would be a disappointing result for England and would also be a major negative mark on Carsley’s CV as he will leave the role as England head coach after this match, to be replaced by Germany’s Thomas Tuchel. . The new manager will no doubt hope that he will get a job with his side in the A League, but for now that is out of his control.
Finishing in second place means they will be headed to the playoffs, so the opportunity is still there in the future. Greece have kept clean sheets in nine of their eleven home games in the Nations League so England will need to find a way to score goals, but they will not be helped by the number of players pulling out of the squad due to minor injuries, with a number of uncapped players called up to replace them. .
Denmark vs Spain
It’s a match everyone is watching as Denmark hosts Spain with the hosts on the verge of reaching the knockout stages of the UEFA Nations League for the first time. They have two wins and one defeat so far and if they manage to improve on Serbia’s result, they will guarantee a place in the next phase of the competition.
Denmark will know they are underdogs in this match but they have a tough home record, all their home games in the Nations League have resulted in 2-0 wins. This will likely be their toughest challenge as they have a very poor record against Spain, winless in the last eight meetings and drawing just one of those runs.
Spain has qualified for the next round with ten points from four matches. They are unbeaten in their last fourteen matches overall, winning twelve of them. Defense has been key to their success as they have conceded just one goal in four Nations League games so far.
Dani Olmo and Nico Williams both return to Spain, making their attacking options even more impressive. The last meeting between the two was a narrow 1-0 win for Spain but Spain have managed to score two or more goals in six of the seven matches either side of the win over Denmark. Spain really likes to score goals late, they managed to score five goals later than the 75th minute in their last five matches. As far as head to head goes, history is on Spain’s side as they have won eight of the last ten meetings even though they have only met ten times since 1988.
Portugal vs Poland
Portugal enter this match in an excellent position in Group 1 of League A as they are three points ahead of second-placed Croatia with two games remaining. They are hoping for another easy win over Poland, having won the first game between the two teams 3-1 five weeks ago.
These two teams are no strangers to each other, having played seven times since 2007 and Portugal have an excellent record, winning three and drawing three. They can rely on an impressive home record, winning nineteen of twenty-one matches since September 2021 but they will be without a number of their first choice players such as Diogo Jota, Ruben Dias and Ruben Neves, who are all injured.
A point in this match will guarantee them a place in the top two but they will definitely be looking for three points to guarantee themselves a top spot. Portugal have not conceded more than one goal in their ten home matches in the Nations League.
Poland has not been in great form, failing to win any of its last three matches. A further blow is the fact that captain and star striker Robert Lewandowski is out through injury.
They are currently three points behind second-placed Croatia so they still have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs, but a point here would certainly go a long way towards achieving that goal.
Defense has been a problem for Poland as they have not kept a clean sheet in their last nine games and they have also seemed to start slowly of late, conceding five goals in the first half of their last two games. At least scoring goals is not a problem, having scored the same number of goals as Portugal and Croatia, namely seven goals so far. If they can thwart Portugal at the other end of the pitch, they will think they have a chance, even if that chance doesn’t give them much hope.
Last Updated: 11.14.2014
