France, Italy, Portugal target quarters

The Paris fixture take places a week after clashes in Amsterdam around a match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch team Ajax

France, Italy and Portugal lead the teams attempting to secure a place in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals, while England’s promotion hopes have been hit by a series of withdrawals.

With European champions Spain and Germany already qualified for the last eight, six spots are still to be filled going into the final two rounds of group matches over the next week. Unbeaten Italy and Portugal require just a point to advance, while France are well positioned too ahead of the visit of Israel on Thursday — a game that will be played surrounded by a large police presence. The Paris fixture take places a week after clashes in Amsterdam around a match between Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch team Ajax. 

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Kylian Mbappe is again missing from the France squad, with coach Didier Deschamps insisting the absence of the Real Madrid superstar “is for the best”. Italy go to Belgium first knowing that anything but defeat guarantees Luciano Spalletti’s side a quarter-final berth. Portugal host Poland and then travel to Croatia in Group A1.

England must beat Greece in Athens to stay in contention for promotion back to the top tier. Greece are the only nation with a perfect record in League B and won 2-1 at Wembley last month. Lee Carsley will oversee his final two fixtures as interim England boss before handing the reins to Thomas Tuchel, but he will be without Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

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