The British confidently passed the Euro qualification campaign. In eight rounds Gareth Southgate’s wards secured seven victories and stumbled in the confrontation with the Czech Republic. The goal difference was 37-6. In the first round of the League of Nations England faced Iceland. The ending of the match turned out to be deadly: two send-offs and two penalties, one of which (in the 93rd minute) was not realized by the Icelanders. And the British extended their winning streak to four matches. In the second round the British turned out to be much more prosaic: a dull zero draw with the Danes (England and Denmark struck three shots on target for two). And finally, the third round brought the England team the maximum result (2:1) in a serious confrontation with one of the best teams in the world, with Belgium.
Sweden’s debut in the elite division of the UEFA Nations League has been challenging. Last season of the tournament Janne Andersson’s team played in division B, where they managed to bypass Russia in additional indicators and were four points ahead of the outsider of the trio Turkish team. The Swedes have not yet scored points in the company with the leading European national teams. The team started the tournament with minimal defeat from France at home (0:1), after which they lost to Portugal (0:2). Andersson’s team also did not score points also in a meeting with a direct competitor in the struggle for survival in the person of the Croatian national team. In Zagreb the Swedes conceded the second goal six minutes before the end of regular time and suffered their third defeat in a row (1:2). Before the defeat in Croatia, guests of the upcoming meeting were marked by an away victory over the Russian national team in a friendly match (2:1).
