Football: Belgium beat England in Nations League

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Belgium beat England 2-0 in Sunday's UEFA Nations League A - Group 2 match at home thanks to first half goals.

Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans scored the opener in the minute 10 at King Power, Leuven.

His compatriot Dries Mertens made it 2-0 for Belgians in the 24th minute to secure the home victory.

Belgium -- also known as "Les Diables Rouges" (the Red Devils) -- have a long unbeaten streak at home, 27 games. They were last beaten by Germany 1-0 in 2010 in Brussels.

Following the match, Mertens said that he is very happy to score a goal in his "hometown".

"It's always fun to score goals and it definitely is when it's in your hometown. It must have been a long time since I've scored here. I never played for the first team of Leuven, but in the youth team I scored a couple of goals," 33-year-old Napoli forward Mertens said.

Belgium have 12 points in five matches to lead Group 2, followed by Denmark with 10 points and England with seven points.

Iceland lost all their five matches in this group sitting at the bottom of the group.

Belgium will face Denmark in Leuven on Wednesday to end this stage, while England will play against Iceland at Wembley Stadium, London the same day.

- Italy beat 10-man Poland

The Italian national team toppled Poland 2-0 in League A - Group 1 match.

The home team, Italy secured the victory over Poland as midfielder Jorginho scored the opener from penalty kick in 27th minute.

Italian winger Domenico Berardi doubled the lead near the end of the match in Reggio Emilia.

Poland were down to 10 men as defensive midfielder Jacek Goralski was sent off in the 77th minute.

Polish star Robert Lewandowski criticized his team's performance against Italy.

"We played very bad, very bad. Actually nothing worked out," Lewandowski said after the loss.

Italy are on top of the Group 1 with 9 points in 5 matches. Netherlands are in the second position with 8 points.

Poland sit at the third spot with 7 points. Bosnia and Herzegovina are in the last place with 2 points.

In the last match day, Italy will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, while Poland will take on the Netherlands at home.

- Romania-Norway match canceled amid virus

The League B - Group 1 match between Romania and Norway in Bucharest was canceled due to the coronavirus.

The UEFA said that the Norwegian national team did not travel to Romania for Sunday's match after a positive case in the Norway squad had been confirmed.

On Friday, Galatasaray's Norwegian right back Omar Elabdellaoui tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Norway's football association (NFF) said on Twitter.

NFF added that the 28-year-old has been isolated from the rest of the national team squad.

- Results:

- League A

Group 1: Netherlands - Bosnia and Herzegovina: 3-1, Italy - Poland: 2-0

Group 2: Belgium - England: 2-0 , Denmark - Iceland: 2-1

- League B

Group 1: Austria - Northern Ireland: 2-1

Group 2: Slovakia - Scotland: 1-0, Czech Republic - Israel: 1-0

Group 3: Turkey - Russia: 3-2, Hungary - Serbia: 1-1

Group 4: Wales - Ireland: 1-0, Bulgaria - Finland: 1-2

- League C

Group 2: North Macedonia - Estonia: 2-1, Georgia - Armenia: 1-2

Group 3: Moldova - Greece: 0-2, Slovenia - Kosovo: 2-1

Group 4: Albania - Kazakhstan: 3-1, Belarus - Lithuania: 2-0