Italy sweep past Israel 4-1; Germany beat Netherlands 1-0

Giovanni Di Lorenzo (left) after his goal with Giacomo Raspadori in Udine on Monday. Pic/AFP

Italy strengthened their position at the top of Nations League Group A2 on Monday by thumping Israel 4-1 in Udine, where ramped up security was put in place for the away side's first match of 2024 outside Hungary.

Brace for Di Lorenzo

Mateo Retegui's penalty four minutes from half-time, a brace from captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Davide Frattesi's 72nd-minute strike moved Italy to 10 points from four unbeaten matches. The Azzurri are six points ahead of third-placed Belgium, who lost 2-1 to France, and a draw against either the Red Devils or the French next month will ensure qualification for the quarter-finals.

Luciano Spalletti's swashbuckling Italy are a different side to the one which put in a dismal title defence at the European Championship this past summer.
Another strong performance in which they missed a host of chances to win by an even wider margin was marred by Guglielmo Vicario allowing Mohammed Abu Fani's corner straight past him in the 65th minute. "We didn't take anywhere near full advantage of what we created. To get in front of their goalkeeper so often wasn't easy because they sat deep and finding space was hard," said Spalletti to RAI. "We had plenty of chances to score more goals but it's OK. You can make mistakes but we reacted well."

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Leweling scores winner

Meanwhile, a 63-minute rocket from debutant Jamie Leweling gave Germany a 1-0 win over a limp Netherlands in Munich and a first appearance in the knockout rounds.

The Stuttgart forward was called off the bench after an injury to club teammate Deniz Undav in the warm-up.

Leweling had an early goal ruled out for the tightest of offsides before blasting in a loose ball from a Joshua Kimmich corner. A beaming Leweling told Germany's ZDF network: "We won as a team, I scored the 1-0, we won 1-0, but we did well and I'm just happy I could help out. The Dutch are a top nation, but we played a good game nevertheless. We used the chances that we had well."

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