Germany into Nations League quarters, France and Italy win

PARIS: Germany secured a place in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over old rivals the Netherlands on Monday, while France won in Belgium and Italy continued their recent revival.

Jamie Leweling of Stuttgart scored on his debut to give Germany victory over the Netherlands in Munich and guarantee them one of the top two spots in Group 3 of League A. It was the eighth meeting of the teams in the last six years but, for the Dutch, there was nothing familiar about Leweling. The 23-year-old was an addition to the Germany squad for this month´s games following an injury to Jamal Musiala.

He was then called off the bench to start the game after an injury to club teammate Deniz Undav in the warm-up. Leweling found the net after just two minutes only for that effort to be ruled out for an offside in the build-up, but he then blasted in the winner on 64 minutes.

“Jamie had an outstanding debut -- it´s not often the Allianz Arena gives you a reception like that -- he did well,” said captain Joshua Kimmich. Germany have 10 points from four games and will definitely take part in the quarter-finals next March.

The Netherlands, who were without the suspended Virgil van Dijk, are level on five points with Hungary. The Hungarians won 2-0 on Monday away in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with captain Dominik Szoboszlai, of Liverpool, opening the scoring late in the first half and adding a penalty after the break. Italy remain top of Group A2 after easing to a 4-1 win at home to Israel in Udine.

Mateo Retegui opened the scoring with a penalty shortly before half-time and captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo netted twice in the second half. Davide Frattesi also scored for Italy, with Mohammad Abu Fani pulling one back for Israel. France are a point behind Italy after they again won in the absence of Kylian Mbappe, a double by Randal Kolo Muani securing a 2-1 victory in Belgium.

Kolo Muani´s opener from the penalty spot in the 35th minute at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels was cancelled out by Lois Openda in first-half stoppage time. But Kolo Muani, who has had a difficult start to the season with his club, then headed in the winner just after the hour mark.

France, who saw Belgium´s Youri Tielemans squander an early spot-kick, held on with 10 men after stand-in captain Aurelien Tchouameni was sent off late on. The result was France´s second win in as many games in this international break, despite them being minus skipper Mbappe, who was allowed to sit out the matches following a recent thigh injury.