England on Sunday enjoyed a 3-1 victory over Finland thanks to goals from Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki to get their UEFA Nations League campaign back on track after Thursday last week’s humbling loss to Greece.
England are second in Group B2 with nine points after four games, three points behind leaders Greece, while Finland are bottom without a point.
“I think we could have had a few more [goals], especially towards the end as the game opened up,” Grealish told ITV. “It was difficult at times in the first half, but we went in at halftime with a one-goal lead, and then I think we dominated the game.”
Photo: AFP
Grealish opened the scoring in the 18th minute with his fourth England goal when Angel Gomes spun and slipped a clever pass into the path of the winger, who slotted the ball into the far corner past goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.
Alexander-Arnold then bent a free-kick over the wall and into the top corner in the 74th minute, before Rice tapped home substitute Ollie Watkins’ cross 10 minutes later after making a bursting run from midfield.
Arttu Hoskonen pulled one back for Finland with an 87th-minute header from a corner, the lapse in England’s defense costing goalkeeper Dean Henderson a clean sheet on his first start.
“At the end, we were a bit gutted as players to concede from a set-piece, but ... we needed a win today, so happy with that,” added Grealish, who celebrated his goal with a thumb-sucking gesture to celebrate the birth of his daughter last month.
England’s interim manager Lee Carsley made six changes from the shambolic 2-1 defeat by Greece at Wembley, with captain Harry Kane back from injury to lead the line.
England also returned to a more conventional formation after Carsley’s experimental lineup without a main striker failed miserably.
He has faced scrutiny since the loss, his first since Gareth Southgate stood down as England manager after Euro 2024.
Sunday’s win at the stadium that hosted the 1952 Olympics kept alive England’s hopes of automatic promotion to League A after they were relegated last time out.
They need to finish top of the group to automatically secure a berth in the competition’s highest section, which likely means a victory when they play Greece again in Athens on Nov. 14.
Finland will regret missing chances when England led 1-0, including two from Fredrik Jensen, who fired just wide in the first half and missed a sitter early in the second, flashing the ball over from close range and burying his head in his hands.
Greece maintained their three-point lead at the top of the group by beating the Republic of Ireland 2-0 in Athens.
Tasos Bakasetas powered a drive from the edge of the penalty area beyond Caoimhin Kelleher early in the second half and Petros Mantalos netted in stoppage-time to preserve their 100 percent record with a fourth consecutive win.
The match was Greece’s first at home since George Baldock, their English-born international, was found drowned in his swimming pool in Athens on Wednesday last week.
Marko Arnautovic netted a brace as Austria thrashed Norway 5-1 in Linz.
The Inter attacker scored early in both halves, either side of a first-half Alexander Sorloth equalizer, before Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch and Michael Gregoritsch completed a dominant win for Austria.
Arnautovic put the hosts in front on eight minutes with a hammered strike that flew in off the crossbar.
Sorloth nipped in to head a leveler for Norway six minutes prior to halftime, but the Austria skipper put his side back in front in the 49th minute when he scored a penalty-kick after Christoph Baumgartner was fouled in the area.
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 hosts as they made the game safe and moved second in Group B3.
Manchester City star Haaland had a night to forget with the Austria defense comfortably subduing the Norway captain.
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.
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