Nations League PIX: England, Germany impress

Images from Saturday's action in the Nations League group stage matches.

England began life after Gareth Southgate in convincing fashion on Saturday, outclassing Ireland 2-0 in the Nations League with goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish giving interim manager Lee Carsley a debut win.

Carsley, who will oversee two games this month with a view to staying on through the autumn, represented Ireland as a player and it was the two of his team with Irish links - Rice and Grealish - who gave England an early lead that was never remotely under threat.

Rice played three games for Ireland before switching to the country of his birth, while Grealish played at under-age level for England's near neighbour, who were also playing under new manager Heimir Hallgrimsson for the first time.

Nothing less than a convincing win over a nation ranked 54 places below them would do for Carsley to boost his credentials for the full-time role and the former England Under-21 coach stuck with Southgate's stalwarts for his first outing.

The visitors, playing in the competition's second-tier for the first time, took the lead moments after Ireland's Sammie Szmodics forced Jordan Pickford into a smart save, with Anthony Gordon wasting a one-on-one before Rice stroked the ball soundly into the top corner.

The Arsenal midfielder, booed by the home fans throughout, opted not to celebrate his fourth England goal. Grealish showed no such restraint 15 minutes later when he tucked away a Rice cutback after some tidy English passing easily cut Ireland open.

England's 352 completed first-half passes to Ireland's 50-odd highlighted the gulf between the side and left Hallgrimsson in little doubt that there would be no repeat of his memorable Euro 2016 win over England while in charge of Iceland.

England took their foot off the accelerator in the second half and Ireland finally showed some signs of life on the hour with the lively Ipswich attacker Szmodics flashing a shot just wide.

That was as close as the hosts got and England, who gave late debuts to Angel Gomes and Morgan Gibbs-White, should have added at least a third goal while seeing the game out at a comfortable pace.

Musiala spurs Germany to big win over Hungary

Jamal Musiala scored once and set up three more goals as Germanycrushed visitors Hungary 5-0 in a winning start to the Nations League competition.

New-look Germany, who have set their sights on the 2026 World Cup after their quarter-final run at the Euro on home soil in July, no longer have any 2014 World Cup winners in the squad following the international retirements of Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer.

Former captain Ilkay Gundogan also ended his international career.

They took the lead in their Group A3 encounter with Niclas Fuellkrug's tap-in from midfielder Musiala assist following a good passing combination in the 27th minute.

Germany, who play Netherlands on Tuesday and also face Bosnia in their group, should have added at least one more goal with Kai Havertz hitting the crossbar with a header in the 33rd and then firing narrowly wide in first half stoppage time.

With Hungary pushing for an equaliser, Musiala struck on the break in the 58th, completing a quick counter-attack from a visitors' corner.

Florian Wirtz then drilled in their third after a one-two with Musiala in the 66th before Havertz hit the woodwork once more.

Man-of-the-match Musiala then sent through Aleksandar Pavlovic in the 77th to slot in.

Havertz still had time to get onto the scoresheet himself with an 81st minute penalty.

Dutch score five against Bosnia

The Netherlands endured some nervy moments but in the end proved too strong for Bosnia as they began their Nations League campaign with a 5-2 triumph at the Philips Stadion.

Joshua Zirkzee scored on his first start for the Dutch to give the hosts a 13th-minute lead in their League A Group 3 encounter but they were caught by a swift counter-attack 14 minutes later that saw Ermedin Demirovic equalise.

Tijjani Reijnders restored the home side's lead on the stroke of half-time and Cody Gakpo made it 3-1 some 11 minutes into the second half.

Veteran Edin Dzeko pulled one back 17 minutes from fulltime to offer Bosnia hope of getting something out of the game but Dutch pinch-hitter Wout Weghorst and Xavi Simons scored in the closing stages to wrap up the victory.

It was the first game for the Dutch since reaching the semi-finals of the European Championship in Germany in July and coach Ronald Koeman refreshed his side with an eye on the 2026 World Cup.

Zirkzee, who made his debut as a substitute at the European Championship after a late call-up to the squad, grabbed the opportunity for a place in the starting lineup with Memphis Depay absent.

He found the net with an unorthodox header, with his back to goal, as he steered a looping ball into the net after Xavi Simons’s shot had been blocked and spun high into the air.

Bosnia’s equaliser was expertly finished by Demirovic and came from two passes from deep in their defence, cutting through the middle of the Dutch line-up.

Reijnders struck the crossbar with a sweeping shot in the 42nd minute and then found the net two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half with a left-footed finish after a pass from Zirkzee put him in on goal.

Reijnders turned provider for Gakpo’s goal, with a cutting pass across the face that Gakpo slid home in the 56th minute.

It looked an easy assignment for the Dutch after that until Bosnia’s teenage substitute Esmir Bajraktarevic, who has switched his international allegiance from the U.S. to Bosnia, provided a long, and inch-perfect, pass for the 38-year-old Dzeko to score his 66th goal on his 136th appearance for Bosnia.

Suddenly Bosnia looked dangerous and the Dutch were under pressure but home nerves were settled when Weghorst reacted quickest to a rebound in the 88th minute and then Simons scored two minutes into stoppage time.