England lose to Greece in Nations League as Lee Carsley casts doubt over full-time job

Vangelis Pavlidis' late winner secures famous win for Greece at Wembley as new-look France batter Israel

England's Jude Bellingham looks dejected after Greece's Vangelis Pavlidis scores their second goal. Reuters

Lee Carsley batted away questions over whether he wants the England job on a full-time basis after overseeing a surprise 2-1 home defeat to Greece in the Uefa Nations League.

Boos rang out around Wembley Stadium after Greece sealed a late victory courtesy of Vangelis Pavlidis' stoppage-time winner, shortly after Jude Bellingham looked to have rescued a point for the Euro 2024 finalists.

Carsley’s bold, attack-minded line-up was flawed but the performance is likely to have damaged the England Under 21s manager’s chances of permanently succeeding Gareth Southgate as senior team boss.

Asked if the Greece defeat negatively impacts his hopes of becoming permanent manager, he said: “I was quite surprised after the last camp in terms of like ‘the job’s mine’, like it’s ‘mine to lose’ and all the rest of it.

“No, my remit has been clear from the start. I’m doing three camps, there’s three games left and then, you know, hopefully I’ll be going back to the 21s.”

Picked up on his eye-catching comment that he will “hopefully” return to the U21s, Carsley said: “Well, I said at the start that I wouldn’t rule myself in or out and that’s still the case.

“I’m more than comfortable in my position where I am. The remit was clear. I’m comfortable and confident with that."

Greece's Vangelis Pavlidis celebrates scoring the second of his two goals in a 2-1 win over England at Wembley. Getty

It signalled a change in mood towards Carsley following September’s promising Nations League wins against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.

“After the first camp I definitely didn’t get too excited or believe too much.

“I’m very aware that this job is one of the best in the world in terms of you’ve actually got a chance of winning – obviously I’m talking about that after a loss but in terms of a major competition – and that’s still the case.”

Carsley’s answer was as confusing as his side’s display as England lost to Greece – ranked 48th in the world – for the first time, leading to further attempts to clarify his feelings about the permanent role.

Asked directly whether he wants the England job or not, he said: “Well, nothing’s changed in what I said in the first press conference.

“I think it’s a fantastic job. I’m lucky that I’ve got a good job as it is in terms of the 21s.

“But, like I say, after the first camp when we won two games and had two really good performances, my ambitions didn’t change.

“I think it’s important that I give it everything I’ve got for the next three games.

“I’m really happy and comfortable in terms of the communication I have with my bosses, so nothing’s changed in that respect.”

England trail Group B2 leaders Greece by three points after a result Carsley’s side need to bounce back from away to winless Finland on Sunday.

“What did I think went wrong? Well, I didn’t think we started the game great,” the interim boss said after Greece paid the perfect tribute to their full-back George Baldock after news of his death emerged on the eve of the match.

“I thought that we were second best a lot of times. Obviously we tried something different with the formation and the areas of the pitch we tried to get into.

“We never really give ourselves a chance to see if whether it was the right decision or wrong.

“Obviously looking at the result and the way the game panned out it was a challenging night for us.

“Greece played well and were highly motivated as you’d expect and, yeah, I just thought we were just second best too much tonight.”

Haaland becomes Norway's top scorer

Erling Haaland marked his first game as Norway captain by becoming his country's all-time leading scorer – then appeared to indicate he will soon become a father.

The Manchester City striker scored in the seventh and 62nd minutes of Norway's 3-0 win over Slovenia in the Nations League on Thursday to move onto 34 international goals.

That's one more than the late Jorgen Juve on Norway's list of record scorers. Juve, on 33 goals, held the record since the 1930s.

“I’m proud,” Haaland was quoted as telling Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. “It is a record that has stood for a long time.”

The 24-year-old Haaland, who has played only 36 games for Norway, posted a picture on X of himself sucking his left thumb and with a ball under his jersey. Above the picture were baby and "coming soon" emojis.

New-look France

France shrugged off Kylian Mbappe's absence and Antoine Griezmann's retirement to comfortably overcome Israel 4-1 in the Nations League on Thursday.

Eduardo Camavinga and Christopher Nkunku set France on their way with first-half goals in Budapest, where Israel are playing all their home games due to the security situation in the Middle East.

Didier Deschamps named a squad that for the first time since 2016 did not feature either Mbappe or Griezmann.

Mbappe was left out of this game and Monday's tie in Belgium to allow the France captain time to regain full fitness after a thigh injury.

While the Real Madrid star's absence is only temporary, Griezmann's is permanent after his decision to quit the international scene last week.

Griezmann's exit signalled the end of an era for the French side that won the 2018 World Cup and reached the final four years later in Qatar.

Yet there was plenty to like about Deschamps' new-look line-up captained by Real Madrid's Aurelien Tchouameni – this win, on the back of victory over Belgium after an opening loss to Italy, leaving France second in Group A2, one point behind Italy.

Deschamps was quick to emphasise the "significant potential" of his young squad.

"It is through matches like this that they will gain experience for the months to come," he said.

For Israel this third straight defeat left them bottom of the table without a point.

Israel coach Ran Ben Shimon named goalkeeper Omri Glazer, returning from injury, as captain.

But Glazer's first interaction proved unfortunate, the captain fumbling Camavinga's tame attempt from outside the box to gift France a seventh-minute lead.

The Real Madrid midfielder was almost too embarrassed to celebrate his first goal for his country in a competitive fixture.

Israel levelled before the half-hour courtesy of Omri Gandelman's stinging header which required the seal of approval from VAR before being confirmed.

But France were back in front shortly after when Camavinga turned provider, his deft assist setting up Nkunku to slot home from a tight angle to open his account for Les Bleus.

Camavinga in a sense was righting an unintentional wrong as it was his training clash with Nkunku that ruled the Chelsea forward out of Deschamps' 2022 World Cup squad with a knee injury.

France were rewarded for a flurry of late attacks with goals from second-half substitutes Matteo Guendouzi and Bradley Barcola.

Referee Espen Eskas brandishes a red card to Italy's Lorenzo Pellegrini after a VAR check. Getty

Pellegrini sees red for Italy

Italy and Belgium played out an eventful 2-2 draw in Rome.

The Italians raced into the lead inside 60 seconds when Andrea Cambiaso got his first international goal by bundling home from close range.

Mateo Retegui doubled the hosts' lead on 24 minutes, sweeping home with his left foot after a spilled save.

Italy looked comfortable and were dominating the encounter until they suffered a double blow inside the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Lorenzo Pellegrini initially picked up a yellow card for his late lunge on Arthur Theate in the 38th minute but, after a VAR review, the Italy playmaker was instead shown a straight red.

Belgium then duly halved the deficit from the resulting free kick, with Maxim De Cuyper finishing emphatically from 25 yards following a clever set-piece move.

Arsenal forward Leandro Trossard completed the Belgian comeback on 61 minutes.

A deep corner was nodded back across goal and Trossard ghosted past the static defence to prod the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range.

"There are episodes that can change a game, like their goal immediately after we went down to ten men," said Italy coach Luciano Spalletti.

"A result doesn't always depend on the football you play and your tactics. Certainly, we could have played better in the second half after a very good first half."

On Friday, Germany visit Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary host the Netherlands in Group A3, while Iceland take on Wales in Group B4.