The Nations League: Will the Three Lions roar?
The domestic football is now over and our attention turns to the Nations League.
It may not be quite as prestigious at the World Cup or the Euros, but with England in the final four, I’m pretty sure every England fan will be desperate to see their nation achieve international success for the first time since 1966.
Switzerland or Portugal await in the final, but England will have to get past the Netherlands in Porto first before they can think about either of those two sides.
Despite the Netherlands failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, they have bounced back to reach the Nations League final in some style. They managed to destroy Germany 3-0 on home soil, before defeating the World Cup champions, France, 2-0.
A 2-2 draw away to their arch-rivals in Germany secured Ronald Koeman’s side a place in the first ever Nations League semi-final.
Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay have all had fantastic seasons for their respective clubs and with all three expected to be involved, they create a very strong spine for the Dutch, who will head into the tournament with plenty of confidence from their recent fixtures.
England’s route was also pretty special. Southgate’s Lions 3-2 win in Spain was probably their highlight, before going on to get revenge against Croatia, coming back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 in the final minutes.
Since then, England have seen the introduction of a couple of new faces into the team. Jadon Sancho, who has been a revelation at Dortmund this season, looks like he could be a star for years to come.
Having been sold to the German giants from Manchester City, the 19-year-old has gone on to make 46 appearances, scoring 13 goals and creating 14 goals in the league this season.
Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi was also presented with an opportunity, making his debut for the national side against Montenegro in a recent European Championship Qualifier.
Netherlands and England meet on the 6th June, just five days after the Champions League final.
A problem England face is that they have a host of international regulars playing for both Liverpool and Spurs, which almost definitely would not have pleased Southgate and England fans alike.
Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dele Ali and Harry Kane have all featured heavily for England over the past twelve months and Southgate will be hoping for no serious injuries to come out of the Champions League final.
Although Netherlands will be hoping their duo from Liverpool in van Dijk and Wijnaldum also come out of the game without any knocks and are fit to start their all important match with England.
The bookies are finding it difficult to find a clear winner out of the clash with Netherlands. England are 6/4 to win in 90 minutes, whereas Koeman’s side are slight outsiders at present at 21/10.
This sees Southgate’s side as second favourites overall to win the Nations League, with Portugal as the front runners at 21/10. This is due to Ronaldo’s side facing the slightly weaker side of the tournament in Switzerland.
The fact that they are also the hosts will count in their favour, who, unfortunately, have a pretty solid record in recent years over England.
However, this England side has been rejuvinated by Gareth Southgate, as the nation fell in love with the national team all over again last summer, as he steered England to the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Despite Switzerland losing their first Nations League match to Belgium, they went on to defeat Iceland, before hammering Belgium on home soil 5-2, much to the surprise of almost everyone.
This may be a warning sign for Portugal to not take the Swiss lightly, who clearly have shown an appetite in front of goal.
However, despite this, a win over Iceland won’t have sent the shivers down the spines of any of the Portuguese players, who will be full of confidence with Bernado Silva and Ronaldo within their ranks.
Portugal also have a rising star in Joao Felix, who has had a phenomenal season for Portuguese winners Benfica. The 19-year-old featured 26 times in the Primeira Liga, scoring on 15 occasions. He also made an outstanding debut season in the Europa League, scoring three times in six appearances, which has sparked interest from Manchester United.
Arguably though, Portugal had a fairly easy group on their route to the finals. They beat Italy and Poland, as well as drawing against both, to secure their final four spot.
However, it is worth remembering that Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup and Poland had a tournament to forget, failing to win a single game and crashed out in the group stage.
Southgate has built a young side and all of them play without fear. They clearly have a special bond and will fight not just for each other, but for the manager and the fans. This is something everyone witnessed against Croatia to reach the Nations League final but also something witnessed during the World Cup on multiple occasions.
England may not have won a major tournament or been in a final since 1966, but it would take a brave man to write off Southgate’s young Lions in Portugal this summer. Something very special could be on the horizon and the Nations League may just start this.
The post The Nations League: Will the Three Lions roar? appeared first on FootballOrgin.