Denmark, France and Spain all made it two wins from two in the top tier of the UEFA Women’s Nations League.
In Group A1, Netherlands led England through a Lieke Martens goal and although Alessia Russo finally brought England level, Dominique Janssen fired a dramatic late winner into the roof of the net. Belgium’s Kassandra Missipo made the breakthrough at Hampden Park but Scotland equalised right at the end, when Lee Gibson’s long ball was headed in by Sophie Howard.
Group A2 saw France win 1-0 in Austria and Portugal edge Norway 3-2. Wendie Renard took just five minutes to find the net for France, with her effort turning out to be the decider. Frida Maanum opened the scoring for Norway but Andreia Jacinto and a Carole Costa spot-kick saw Portugal go in 2-1 up. Elisabeth Terland equalised only for Costa to convert a second penalty for the Portuguese.
There were four-goal margins of victory in Group A3 for Germany at home to Iceland and Denmark away to Wales.
Klara Buhl and Giulia Gwinn had Germany two up at half-time, Lea Schuller got the third and Buhl then doubled her tally in a 4-0 result.
Wales trailed after only six minutes to a Pernille Harder penalty, the same player scoring again with less than a dozen minutes played. Jess Fishlock halved the deficit six minutes into the second half, Frederikke Thogersen restoring the two-goal cushion on the hour mark. In the dying minutes, Sanne Troelsgaard scored and Harder completed her hat-trick.
Spain put five past Switzerland to continue their winning start to Group A4, Sweden got the sole goal of their visit to Italy.
Lucia Garcia found the net 15 minutes in for Spain, Aitana Bonmati scored in first-half added time and also four minutes into the second. Inma Gabarro and Maite Oroz later adding one each. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s goal after 14 minutes was enough to give Sweden victory.
Caitlin Hayes put Republic of Ireland one up in Group B1 away to Hungary, Katie McCabe extending the advantage close to the interval. Kyra Carusa made it 3-0 four minutes after the interval and Denise O’Sullivan got the fourth with 20 minutes still to play. Lauren Wade made the breakthrough close to the hour mark for a dominant Northern Ireland at home to Albania.
Eva Pajor scored midway through each half for Poland against Ukraine, who replied through Lyubov Schmatko and although the Poles’ Malgorzata Grec was dismissed in added time, her team held out to win.
Eveliina Summanen’s first-half penalty saw Finland win in Romania, while in the same group Slovakia had Diana Lemesova sent-off in first-half stoppage time against Croatia but still built a 4-0 lead. The match was temporarily suspended but later completed with no further goals.
Czechia made it two wins from two in Group B4, Bosnia and Herzegovina drew with Slovenia despite a 48th-minute red card.
Faroe Islands also finished with ten players after a late sending off in losing 1-0 in Cyprus.
Karline Miksone hit a first-half hat-trick for Latvia during their 4-0 victory in Andorra.
UEFA Women’s Nations League Results for 26 September
Group A1: Netherlands 2-1 England, Scotland 1-1 Belgium
Group A2: Austria 0-1 France, Portugal 3-2 Norway
Group A3: Germany 4-0 Iceland, Wales 1-5 Denmark
Group A4: Spain 5-0 Switzerland, Italy 0-1 Sweden
Group B1: Northern Ireland 1-0 Albania, Hungary 0-4 Republic of Ireland
Group B2: Romania 0-1 Finland, Slovakia 4-0 Croatia
Group B3: Poland 2-1 Ukraine, Serbia 4-0 Greece
Group B4: Czechia 2-1 Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1 Slovenia
Group C1: Malta 2-0 Moldova, Andorra 0-4 Latvia
Group C2: Türkiye 2-0 Lithuania, Luxembourg 1-1 Georgia
Group C3: Montenegro 0-1 Azerbaijan, Cyprus 1-0 Faroe Islands
Group C4: Estonia 0-5 Israel, Armenia 1-2 Kazakhstan
Group C5: Bulgaria 0-0 Kosovo
The next two match days in the UEFA Women’s Nations League are at the end of October.
