Nothing to lose as Poland take on the Netherlands in their final UEFA Nations League match

It’s such a bitter ending to a UEFA Nations League campaign that could have seen Poland go to the finals of the tournament. They still can, but they have to beat the Netherlands by at least three goals and hope that Italy get beat by Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Jerzy Brzeczek’s side did not have the best game in the UEFA Nations League last time out as their countless errors were punished by a ruthless and fierce Italian side that had many of their key players out of the fixture.

The likes of Nicolo Barella, Andrea Belotti and Federico Bernardeschi really stepped up their game in the absence of the key first-team players for Italy.

Italy pressed and worked a way round the Polish backline. Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne fed plenty of balls into the box as they looked to pick out Belotti.

One cross from Bernardeschi was destined to find the striker as he was brought down in the box and subsequently, Jorginho opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 27th minute.

Poland only had two shots in that whole game and their best chance was when second-half substitute Kamil Grosicki found himself in space in the Italian box but was quickly stopped by Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi as the two centre-backs blocked the winger’s shot and it was easily claimed by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

To make matters worse, Jacek Goralski got himself sent off for a second yellow card offence in the 77th minute which took Poland down to ten men for the remainder of the game.

It would be 2-0 to Italy with seven minutes to go. Lorenzo Insigne looked dangerous all game and his killer through ball found Domenico Berardi who slotted it past Wojciech Szczesny which handed the mighty Italians the win, three points and first place in the UEFA Nations League group.

At the Johan Cruijff ArenA, the Netherlands took on Bosnia & Herzegovina in the second game in Group A1 of the UEFA Nations League.

A quick Georginio Wijnaldum double saw the Dutch with a two-goal cushion after only 13 minutes as they looked to reclaim second place in the group.

It took them until the second-half to get their third goal of the game through Memphis Depay as he slotted past Ibrahim Šehić in the 55th minute.

Smail Prevljak would get a goal back for Bosnia in the 63rd minute, but ultimately the strength of the Dutch was too much for Bosnia as the Netherlands won, got the three points and jumped into second place in the UEFA Nations League group.

Three teams are really in the hunt for the finals spot: Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Italy currently sit on nine points, the Dutch on eight and Poland on seven.

All Italy need to qualify for the final tournament of the UEFA Nations League is to win their final game against Bosnia & Herzegovina. For the Netherlands to reach that stage, they need to beat Poland and hope that Italy either draw or lose against Bosnia.

Poland have the toughest job out of the three teams as they need to beat the Netherlands and hope that Italy lose to Bosnia. If Italy draw against the Bosnians, the Poles need to beat the Dutch by a three-goal margin to qualify as they would have a superior goal difference.

Whatever happens in the final games of the UEFA Nations League group stage, this three-way battle between three good footballing sides will be interesting to see who goes to the finals.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt