Turkey celebrates goal festival again: Italy jumps to the top in a German group

Stefan Kuntz is developing the Turkish team into a goal machine in the Nations League, and a new signing from Dortmund is in the starting XI for the first time.

Turkey celebrates goal festival again: Italy jumps to the top in a German group

Stefan Kuntz is developing the Turkish team into a goal machine in the Nations League, and a new signing from Dortmund is in the starting XI for the first time. In the German Nations League group, Italy achieved their second win in 2022, while a former Bundesliga professional scored twice for Finland.

European champions Italy can still win: The Squadra Azzurra achieved their second victory in the 2022 calendar year with a deserved 2-1 (2-0) against England conqueror Hungary and took the lead in the German Group A3. Two classes lower, Stefan Kuntz celebrated the second shooting match in a row with Turkey, while Joel Pohjanpalo, who is still from Leverkusen, scored a brace for Finland.

The Italians, who did not qualify for the World Cup, showed much more enthusiasm three days after the 1-1 draw against Germany, Nicolo Barella from Inter Milan (30th) completed a nice move with the deserved lead. Lorenzo Pellegrini, who was already successful against the DFB team, from Conference League winners AS Roma, increased shortly before the break (45th).

Hungary, on the other hand, missed another coup after the surprising win against England (1-0), even if things got exciting again after an own goal by Gianluca Mancini (61st). Willi Orban, Dominik Szoboszlai (both RB Leipzig) and Andras Schäfer (Union Berlin) were in the starting XI for the guests.

Kuntz meanwhile defended the lead in Group C1 with a confident 6-0 (2-0) in Lithuania. Dogukan Sinik (2nd/14th), ex-Darmstadt player Serdar Dursun (56th, penalty kick/81st), Yunus Akgün (89th) and Halil Dervisoglu (90th 1) scored in Vilnius for Turkey, who scored one The season started 4-0 against the Faroe Islands. Salih Özcan, who switched from 1. FC Köln to Borussia Dortmund in the summer and only decided against a future in the DFB team in March, was in the starting XI for the first time.

Turkey was relegated from the B-League in the last Nations League season as the bottom of the group. Second is Luxembourg, also with six points, who won 1-0 (0-0) on the Faroe Islands.

In Group B3, Finland took the lead with four points thanks to Joel Pohjanpalo. The Bayer Leverkusen striker, who was last loaned out to Turkish club Caykur Rizespor, scored both goals in the 2-0 (2-0) win over Montenegro in Helsinki. Bosnia and Herzegovina follow in second place with equal points after beating Romania 1-0 (0-0). Haris Duljevic from second division Hansa Rostock provided the template for the winning goal by Smail Prevljak (68th).