Very soon the UEFA Europa Nations League will be crowning its inaugural winner. The final four will compete this week for a place in the Final which will be hosted on June 9th at the Estadio do Dragao, the home of FC Porto.
It is England, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal who will be battling out for the title. While the next round of Euro 2020 qualifiers are taking place, this competition offers something new and exciting. These are matches which are probably going to be a little more competitive than the lop-sided games that the Euro qualifiers will churn up.
So it’s eyes down in Portugal, which was the host nation selected for the Finals.
Portugal v Switzerland
June 5th – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
Hosts Portugal will be hoping to set things alight by getting a win in the first of the semi-finals. They will be taking on the Netherlands, who they had to get past during World Cup 2018 qualification. In an epic tussle between the two nations during that campaign. They had traded 2-0 home wins. Portugal are 8/13 odds on favourite to win this fixture with leading bookmakers.
Portugal’s home success over the Swiss happened in the last round of action. It was a victory that saw them pip Switzerland to top spot in the qualification group. That was by goal difference only. In their Nations League group, Portugal had a fairly comfortable time of things.
They posted a composed W2 D2 record in their four games against Italy and Poland, notably winning their two away games. Portugal have won their three previous home games against the Swiss. In them they conceded just the one goal. The overall head to head Portugal leads at W4 D3 L3.
Free-scoring Swiss a threat to hosts
So Switzerland have to overcome the home advantage that their opponents have in this one. That leaves them in a position of being 19/4 underdogs. But already they have made some big waves in their Nations League campaign. They were in League A Group 2 against Belgium and Iceland.
After losing in Belgium but winning both games against Iceland, it left them in a position in their final game of needing to beat the Belgians by a two-goal margin. On home soil, they did that in style – as underdogs. The Swiss produced a stunning 5-2 win over the Red Devils.
In total Switzerland scored 14 goals in their four group stage games, the highest return of all the League A teams. They are going to be facing up to a stubborn, technically sound Portugal side who have Cristiano Ronaldo back in action (after not playing in any of the group stage games). Will the Swiss attack come to the fore to break the hopes of the home side?
England v Netherlands
June 6th – 7.45 pm
Sky Sports
This should be a fascinating clash. Here are two nations who are heading in the right direction at the moment. England had their wonderful run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and that left them facing renewed expectation. They met those expectations in the group stage of this Nations League campaign. After picking up just the one point from their opening two games, a home loss against Spain and a draw in Croatia, things looked a little flat for the Three Lions.
However, there was a huge turn of events to come. England produced a stunning 3-2 win in Spain, having started the match as heavy underdogs. That kept their qualification hopes alive. However, they still had to deliver at home against Croatia in their final group stage match. They looked to have thrown away a big chance as they were 1-0 down against Croatia after 75 minutes. But then two dramatic late goals for England got Wembley rocking. The 2-1 win sent them top by a point over Spain.
Three Lions narrow favourites
Now they are 7/5 favourites with leading bookies to win this game and reach the tournament’s final. This will be the first competitive meeting between England and the Netherlands since a memorable Euro ‘96 meeting. The Three Lions turned on a spectacular show on that occasion to produce a 4-1 win. Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham both netted a brace in that fixture.
This is still a young England team under the development of Gareth Southgate and it would be a huge step forward if they could lift the Nations League title. But then the Netherlands are in the same boat. They were in despair as they missed out on qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
But the silver lining to that is they have had a big shakeup and are back on track. They are younger, more dynamic and Ronald Koeman guided them to a shock group win in the Nations League over Germany and reigning world champions France. The Dutch are 19/10 to beat England in this semi final. They were unbeaten in seven against the Three Lions until their most recent meeting, a 2018 friendly.
Summary
There are two very good semifinal matches lined up here. They are both very evenly matched as well and this should be a great advert for the Nations League. There is no clear front runner in this. The bookmakers do have Portugal as the tournament outright favourites at 15/8. That’s because of home advantage which could be a telling factor.
But you put any of these four against each other and they are all capable of beating each other on the day. It also means that who comes out on top in the final on June 9th, has certainly had to put in some serious work to earn that title. None of them have had a particular easy task to reach the semi-finals. The pressure now ramps up to a new level.
