Photo via Toronto Star

Transformed Italy records dominant win in Nations League, Olise gives France late win

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗
Cite

Matar, D. (2026, September 28). Transformed Italy records dominant win in Nations League, Olise gives France late win. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/transformed-italy-records-dominant-win-in-nations-league-olise-gives-france-late-win/article_23bc94c1-e9c8-57ba-ba12-ace85b59be49.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-28 · by Daniella Matar

Quick Summary

Italy under new coach Roberto Mancini secured a dominant 4-1 win against Turkey in the UEFA Nations League on Monday. The match featured an impressive debut by Michael Kayode who scored one goal and assisted another. Italy’s strong performance contrasted with their recent struggles, including failing to qualify for the World Cup. Meanwhile, France under new coach Zinedine Zidane barely managed a 1-0 victory over Belgium, with Michael Olise scoring the winning goal in the final minutes of the match.
Written by AI on 2026-09-28, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Roberto Mancini led Italy to a dominant 4-1 victory over Turkey in the Nations League on Monday, marking one of Italy's best performances in recent times. This comes after Italy's disappointing World Cup qualification failure and a 2-0 loss to Belgium earlier this week. Michael Olise scored a late goal for France, helping them secure a 1-0 victory against Belgium despite playing without the injured Kylian Mbappé, who has since returned to Real Madrid. Zinedine Zidane, France's new coach, saw his team struggle initially but ultimately prevail in a closely contested match. Italy will face France away on Friday, likely providing a tougher challenge for Mancini’s transformed squad.

Written for “Nations League Matches” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Nations League Matches
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 12 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different matches involving Italy and France on consecutive days, not the same match.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 34 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different matches between France and Italy, with Article A referring to an earlier match against Turkey and an upcoming match against France, while Article B is about a specific match at Stade de France.”
Evening Standard
Hedges 0 of 6 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles describe different matches: Article A covers Italy's match against Turkey, while Article B provides information on how to watch France vs. Italy.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 1 of 20 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different matches; Article A mentions Italy's win over Turkey, while Article B describes France drawing with Italy.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 25 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different matches between Italy and France, with Article A referring to a match where Italy wins 4-1 against Turkey and Article B describing a later match where France draws 1-1 against Italy at home.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
17
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 10538 article(s) · 27 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 27 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Daniella Matar
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 It would have been assured of one of the top two places in the group if it beat Belgium and Italy failed to beat Turkey.
🔮 Italy will no doubt face a much tougher test in its next match, however, when it plays France away on Friday.
🔮 ‘The star with the moustache’ Mazzola's funeral will take place on Monday, at the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, the same church where the funeral of Milan and Italy soccer star Franco Baresi took place last month.
🔮 MONZA, Italy (AP) — FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has defended the wait for clarity over how this year’s Formula 1 season will end amid uncertainty over the Middle East security situation but tells The Associated Press that drivers and team staff will not be put “at risk.”
🔮 He did add, however, that he would have further checks over the next 24 hours to make sure that he is fit to compete in next weekend’s Spanish GP.
🔮 MONZA, Italy (AP) — George Russell will be looking to make up some ground on Kimi Antonelli in the Formula 1 title race, with his Mercedes teammate starting from the back of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix.
Also by Daniella Matar
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 7 articles by Daniella Matar →

Topics

Belgium France Italy Turkey World Cup

Subjects

Italy GPE · 12× France GPE · 4× Turkey GPE · 4× Belgium GPE · 3× Kayode PERSON · 3× Azzurri ORG · 2× Esposito PERSON · 2× Olise PERSON · 2× Roberto Mancini PERSON · 1× the Nations League ORG · 1×

Narrative

Late Olise stunner breaks the deadlock France dominated and hit the woodwork twice but needed a stunning, late goal from Michael Olise to finally break the deadlock. France was without Mbappé, who has already returned to Real Madrid, after limping off with an injury to his left knee moments after scoring a record-extending 67th goal for his country in Friday’s 1-0 victory against Turkey.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-28
🔮 Italy will no doubt face a much tougher test in its next match, however, when it plays France away on Friday.

Claims (17 extracted, 0 hedged)

Roberto Mancini appears to have transformed Italy almost immediately. asserted
Mancini → appear → Italy
Italy stormed to a dominant 4-1 win at Turkey in the Nations League on Monday with the Azzurri’s best performance for a long time, in Mancini’s second match in charge. asserted
Italy → storm → charge
It was a far cry from Friday’s 2-0 loss at home to Belgium when Italy looked to still be struggling, six months on from failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup. asserted
Italy → look → Cup
Italy will no doubt face a much tougher test in its next match, however, when it plays France away on Friday. asserted
it → face → Friday
France also has a new coach in Zinedine Zidane, and he saw his team — without the injured Kylian Mbappé — snatch a 1-0 win at Belgium. asserted
team → have → Belgium
Dream debut for Kayode Brentford defender Michael Kayode scored one goal and set up another in an impressive Italy debut for the 22-year-old. asserted
Kayode → score → old
Italy took the lead with less than nine minutes on the clock when Zeki Çelik scuffed an attempted clearance on a corner and the ball fell to Alessandro Bastoni, who swept it into the roof of the net. asserted
who → take → net
It was a sort of redemption for Bastoni, who was sent off in the first half of Italy’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina — which the Azzurri went on to lose on penalties. asserted
Azzurri → send → penalties
Davide Frattesi doubled Italy’s lead in the 22nd minute, tapping in the rebound after Kayode’s shot had been parried by Turkey goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, following a well-worked team move by Italy. asserted
shot → double → Italy
Kayode got on the scoresheet five minutes later, following a similar move, with Pio Esposito sending him clear to fire into the bottom right corner. asserted
Esposito → get → corner
It was the first time in five years that Italy scored three goals in the opening half-hour of a competitive match. asserted
Italy → score → match
Barış Alper Yılmaz caught Italy napping to pull one back for Turkey right at the start of the second half but Esposito restored the visitors’ three-goal advantage three minutes later, nodding in a rebound after Sandro Tonali’s curled effort had come off the post. asserted
effort → catch → post
Esposito had been joined in the starting lineup by his older brother Sebastiano, who was making his debut, marking the first time since 1915 that two brothers had started a match for Italy. asserted
brothers → join → Italy
Late Olise stunner breaks the deadlock France dominated and hit the woodwork twice but needed a stunning, late goal from Michael Olise to finally break the deadlock. France was without Mbappé, who has already returned to Real Madrid, after limping off with an injury to his left knee moments after scoring a record-extending 67th goal for his country in Friday’s 1-0 victory against Turkey. asserted
who → break → Turkey
Zidane made nine changes to his starting lineup, including handing debuts to Jérémy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Lucas Da Cunha. asserted
Zidane → make → Jacquet
Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a number of important saves, while Désiré Doué hit the crossbar in the 12th minute and Da Cunha saw a fierce effort from 25 yards come off the post. asserted
effort → make → post
It took something special to break the Belgians down and that happened two minutes from time, when Olise received the ball inside his own half and sprinted down the right before cutting in and driving into the bottom left corner. asserted
Olise → take → corner
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support