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• Haaland endures Austria thrashing as Norway captain

  Erling Haaland endured a miserable outing as Norway captain, with his goal-scoring exploits powerless in his side's 5-1 defeat to Austria in their Nations League encounter.

  Haaland, standing in for injured skipper Martin Odegaard, watched on as his side suffered a second-half collapse at the Raiffeisen Arena. 

  The Manchester City striker became his nation's all-time top scorer with a brace in their 3-0 win over Slovenia, taking his total to 34 goals in 36 games, and threatened to add to that tally when he struck the post in the sixth minute.

  However, a dominant start by the hosts was rewarded when Marko Arnautovic thundered his side in front in the eighth minute with a fierce effort off the crossbar. 

  However, Norway found themselves level six minutes before half-time when Alexander Sorloth headed Julian Ryerson's free-kick beyond the on-rushing Patrick Pentz. 

  Andreas Hanche-Olsen's foul on Christoph Baumgartner inside the box proved to be the beginning of the end for Norway, with Arnautovic stepping up to score the resulting penalty.

  Austria increased their lead soon after through Philipp Lienhart's header, with Stefan Posch nodding the hosts 4-1 in front after being picked out at the back post by Marcel Sabitzer.

  The rout was complete in the 71st minute, with Sabitzer again the architect, teeing up Michael Gregoritsch with yet another header to send Austria joint-top of Group B3. 

• Spalletti urges Italy to learn from Belgium mistake against Israel

  Luciano Spalletti lauded Italy's spirit but warned his side must learn from their mistakes when they host Israel in Monday's Nations League clash.

  Italy are top of their group, one point ahead of France, who smashed Israel 4-1 on Thursday.

  Spalletti's side were held to a 2-2 draw with Belgium on the same day, throwing away an early two-goal lead after Lorenzo Pellegrini was dismissed for striking out at Arthur Theate.

  The Azzurri manager referenced that error as Spalleti urged his side to use the Belgium draw as a learning curve.

  "The team is working hard, sweating for the shirt, sacrificing themselves," the former Napoli head coach said at Sunday's press conference. 

  "The problem we learned from the last game is that in football one incident can ruin all the good work, so we must always learn from our mistakes."

  Italy defeated Israel 2-1 in their first group-stage meeting thanks to goals from Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean in Budapest.

  Spalletti expects another stern examination, however, as Israel aim to bounce back from their thrashing by France last time out.

  "I don't know exactly who will start because it's a very delicate game with many hidden dangers," Spalletti added before confirming Guglielmo Vicario will start in goal instead of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

  "Israel are a good team that can play football, so we have to keep our balance and organisation. I hope our team can take control of the game.

  "Israel won't have the same attitude they showed against us or with France, as at times they sit deep and wait, at others they try to press you."

  Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli will be pushing for a starting berth in Udine, though questions remain as to whether he can partner Torino's Samuele Ricci.

  "Fagioli deserves more playing time and he is working hard, but this time I won't be able to give you too many hints on the line-up," continued Spalletti.

  "He can play with Ricci, I gave him the role in front of the defence because I think it can suit him, but he must also know how to change tempo and direction, shake off man-marking and use the midfield like a trampoline to bounce the ball from one side to another."

• Mona, Hillel kickstart 2024 Canopy Insurance/JISA Alberga Cup season quest with impressive victories

  The 2023 Canopy Insurance/JISA Under-12 Alberga Cup finalists, Mona Preparatory and Hillel Academy kickstarted their quest for victory on Saturday when they played opening matches against St. Hughs Preparatory and American International School of Kingston (AISK) at the National Water Commission’s (NWC) Mona field and the AISK field respectively. The 2023 Cup finalists were 2 of 17 matches played across 5 zones set for both Kingston & St. Catherine.

  Mona, who played in Zone 4, won their opener against St. Hugh’s and were in high spirits as they believe they have a chance to repeat history. Coached by Vivian Nelson they clocked 11-0; while unsure if his team is ready, he is looking forward to them playing some good football.

  "I’m not sure if we’re ready but the season [already] started so we’ll just play. At 11-0, they’re just showing that they picked up from where they left off so, it was a good game, the first game; we just want to see where they are after the pre-season, so [it] never really looked bad, the playing is okay, but I think as we go along we expect some improvement.”

  Nelson said that compared to last year, it’s more or less the same results from the first match.

  “If we judge by that [match] then, the season is the same; we’re hoping to get there [on the top spot] again. We have an ongoing program plus some of these youngsters play football right round [the year] so when they’re not with me they’re with the Dare to Dream Football Academy; we put in some work in pre-season; expect youngsters [to be] youngsters and score. [But] I’m looking at how they play the position, their discipline and how they control the game.

  Noting that while they’re playing for victory, he’s not looking at teams now, he’s focused on his team to see where the season takes them, whilst praising his competent returning players.

  Their opening opponent’s coach, Pryce of St. Hughs Prep believes they can get better.

   “We have a fairly young team this year, a group of grade 5 boys coming out to play some really nice football, they were up against the defending champions which is very good and for me they performed the best they could.” said Pryce.

  “The boys are growing, they are coming along, they have a lot more experience to gain so the more they play, the better they’ll get over the years. They’re just here to put on a good show for themselves this year and get some confidence going into next year’s season. They just need to play faster and a bit more confident.”

  In another St. Andrew match, 2023 finalist Hillel, the Zone 2 favorite, took home the gold with a 7-2 score at the end of the match to secure their move to the next round. While both teams were tied at halftime, Hillel took things up a notch in the second half to score 5 more points.

  “It was our first game and we just wanted to see how the boys would play real competitively, and they did well; apart from a few mistakes we got back in our game in the second half and scored some goals, tried to get the benchers in and get some experience for the new ones but all in all, we have more work to do because I’m quite sure there are better teams out there to play; we’re looking forward to that; we need the challenge to ensure our team is ready.” said coach Nicholas Locke of Hillel Academy.

   

  Coach-nominated Players of the Match for the 2024 season’s opener included St. Hugh’s James Whittingham and Hillel’s Jace Lowe.

  Other matches played in Saturday’s season opener included: Lannaman’s Prep VS Mount Alvernia Prep (2-0), Creative Kids VS Ardenne Prep (0-1), Emmanuel Christian Academy VS Portmore Missionary Prep (8-0) and Sts. Peter and Paul VS Our Lady of the Angels Prep (11-0).