Nations League: England crush Ireland in Carsley's last game in charge, Haaland hat-trick propels Norway

Harry Kane leads the way in 5-0 win at Wembley, securing promotion to top tier of tournament

England's Harry Kane, left, celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Nations League match against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley. AP

England secured promotion back to the top tier of the Uefa Nations League with a 5-0 thrashing of Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday in what was interim manager Lee Carsley's last game in charge.

After a lukewarm first half, Harry Kane sparked life into the game with a penalty before Anthony Gordon's volley and a tap-in by Conor Gallagher in the space of five minutes at the start of the second broke Ireland's resolve.

Jarrod Bowen made it 4-0 with a crisp shot from the edge of the area, his first touch after coming off the bench, while debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed England's fifth.

The result was on expected lines as Ireland played virtually the entire second half with 10 men after Liam Scales was sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham that handed England the penalty.

Gordon, Gallagher, Bowen and Harwood-Bellis all scored their first senior goals for England.

England finished top of Group B2 with 15 points from six games, the same as Greece but with a superior goal difference in the two games between the two nations.

"It was a great evening for a lot of players and the main thing was getting promotion," Carsley said. "I enjoyed watching the lads, to play with the aggression and intent that they played with."

Carsley will now hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel having won five of his six games in charge and with some useful pointers for the German who takes charge in January.

"It'd be fair to say there's a bit of relief," Carsley added. "If we'd have spoken at the start of the campaign we'd probably have said you're expected to get promotion but it's difficult. No team has rolled over for us and let us just carry on. I've found it personally challenging and I know the staff have. It's good that we've finished the campaign with such a strong performance."

Carsley, who now returns to the Under-21s side, sidestepped questions of whether he would like to return to manage the England senior team again one day.

"It's a job that deserves an elite coach with a track record of winning and Thomas has got that," he said.

"The bonus would be we've increased the pool of players. The next squad will be a real challenge to pick, I'm sure. Exciting times ahead."

England's Anthony Gordon, centre, celebrates scoring with Jude Bellingham in London. AFP

Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson was furious about his side's humiliating 5-0 hammering, suggesting his players "gave up" after Scales' sending off.

A Nations League campaign that started with a 2-0 defeat to England in Dublin ended in embarrassment at Wembley, where the visitors had started well and frustrated the Euro 2024 runners-up.

But Scales' sending-off for a second yellow card shortly after half time saw the Irish spiral.

"Well, I'm kind of lost for words," Hallgrimsson said. "Six minutes of kind of madness. Yeah, it was a shock, conceding a penalty, conceding a goal, losing a player.

"We probably lost our heads at this moment, leading into a second goal and a third goal. And from there you can see, yeah, we maybe lost our head, gave up.

"We've talked and I said before we're struggling with confidence, and they clearly took away all confidence from what we did really well in the first half."

Haaland hat-trick

Erling Haaland was on fire as he scored a hat-trick to help Norway top their group in League B.

Haaland was at his destructive best as Norway brushed aside Kazakhstan 5-0 to finish top of Group B3 ahead of Austria who were held to a 1-1 draw by Slovenia.

The Manchester City star broke the deadlock, pouncing on a rebound in the 23rd minute.

Haaland nodded in his 37th international goal 14 minutes later, before Antonio Nusa added a Norwegian third of a dominant first half.

Haaland completed his fourth treble for Norway with 19 minutes remaining, turning away from his marker on the edge of the area and finishing low into the bottom corner with his right foot.

Nusa scored again as Norway snatched automatic promotion from Austria, who conceded a late equaliser to Slovenia in Vienna.

Meanwhile, Adrien Rabiot fired France to first place in their Nations League group with a headed brace in a 3-1 win over Italy at the San Siro.

Former Juventus midfielder Rabiot netted from Lucas Digne set-pieces in each half at the home of his former Milanese rivals to ensure that Les Bleus leapfrogged Italy into top spot in Group A2 on goal difference, with both teams already in the quarter-finals before kick off.

Digne was also crucial to France's second goal, as it was his stunning free-kick in the 33rd minute which crashed out off the woodwork and into the net off Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

France were on their way to top spot when Digne forced home via Vicario's back as they needed to win by at least two goals to move above Italy.

Andrea Cambiaso's neat first-time finish moments after Digne's strike put Italy back on top on head-to-head record, due to their 3-1 win in Paris back in September.

But Rabiot stepped up in the 65th minute to give France a positive end to what has been a tumultuous international break, with captain Kylian Mbappe left at home with little explanation from coach Didier Deschamps and a fraught goalless draw with Israel at the Stade de France on Thursday.