UEFA Nations League finals preview: Dates, venues, predicted line-ups, ones to watch
Gareth Southgate's team must beat the Netherlands on Thursday to reach the final. The winner will play either Portugal or Switzerland in the Sunday final on Sunday. Eurosport assesses the four squads and picks one player to watch.
Portugal play Switzerland in the first semi-final on Wednesday at 7.45 pm UK time. England play the Netherlands 24 hours later in Guimaraes at Dom Afonso Henriques Stadium at the same time at 6.30 pm. The third-place play-off takes place on Sunday at 2 pm in Guimsarae.
UEFA Nations League finals are taking place in 2018.
England reached the finals after reaching the semi-finals at the World Cup last year. They finished ahead of Spain and Croatia in their group. England have scored five goals in each of their first two Euro 2020 qualifying games.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Joe Gomez, Michael Keane, Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, John Stones, Kyle Walker are the defenders.
Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Harry Kane, Callum Wilson are the players in the Premier League.
UEFA Nations League finals are taking place.
Jadon Sancho has been a revelation at Borussia Dortmund this season. The winger has 14 assists and was included in Gareth Southgate's squad for the Nations League double-header against Croatia and Spain in October. Sanchino became the first player born after 2000 to represent England at senior level.
UEFA Nations League finals are taking place in September.
Portugal finished top of Group A3, ahead of Italy and Poland. They were unbeaten on eight points from their four games. Goalkeepers: Beto (Goztepe), José Sá (Olympiacos), Rui Patrício (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
Joao Cancelo, Nélson Semedo, Jose Fonte, Pepe, Rúben Dias, Raphaël Guerreiro, Mario Rui are the defenders to watch.
Danilo, Rúben Neves, William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes, João Moutinho, Pizzi, Bernardo Silva, Goncalo Guedes and Rafa Silva are the players to watch. Cristiano Ronaldo is the star player for Juventus.
Joao Felix was one of the breakout stars of 2018/19 season at Benfica. The 19-year-old has been linked with Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona. He scored a hat-trick in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt. Felix would have made his senior Portugal debut in March if he hadn't had to withdraw through injury. Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't scored in any of his last four appearances for Portugal.
The Dutch finished ahead of Germany and France to qualify for the UEFA Nations League finals. Marco Bizot, Jasper Cillessen and Kenneth Vermeer are the goalkeepers.
Nathan Ake, Daley Blind, Stefan de Vrij, Denzel Dumfries, Matthijs de Ligt, Hans Hateboer, Patrick van Aanholt and Virgil van Dijk are the defenders to watch.
Frenkie de Jong, Marten de Roon, Davy Pröpper, Kevin Strootman, Donny van de Beek, Tonny Vilhena, Georginio Wijnaldum, Ryan Babel, Steven Bergwijn, Luuk dejong, Memphis Depay, Quincy Promes are the players to watch in UEFA Nations League finals.
Predicted line-up: Cillessen, Dumfries, De Ligt, Van Dijk, Blind, Wijnaldum, de Roon, Depay, Bergwijn, Babel.
Frenkie De Jong is leaving Ajax to join Barcelona. Dejong has made 89 first-team appearances for Ajax and won the Eredivisie title with them. He was named Dutch Football Talent of the Year and E Redivish Player of The Season.
Switzerland beat Belgium 5-2 to reach the UEFA Nations League finals. Switzerland are looking to make the transformation from a team that is always difficult to beat to one considered title contenders.
UEFA Nations League finals are taking place in September. Manuel Akanji, Loris Benito, Nico Elvedi, Michael Lang, Kevin Mbabu, Jacques-Francois Moubandje, Ricardo Rodriguez, Fabian Schar are the defenders.
Edimilson Fernandes, Remo Freuler, Xherdan Shaqiri, Djibril Sow, Renato Steffen, Granit Xhaka, Denis Zakaria, Steven Zuber, Noah Okafor, Josip Drmic, Haris Seferović and Albian Ajeti are the players to watch.
Breel Embolo is highly-rated in his homeland of Cameroon. He made his debut for Basel at the age of 17 and moved to the Bundesliga in 2016. Embola has four goals in 32 international appearances for Switzerland. Haris Seferovic has scored five goals for the Swiss national team in last five games.
Harry Kane, Ronald Koeman and Fernando Santos are looking forward to the tournament. Portugal have won four of their last seven matches against Switzerland. Switzerland have only won two of last three games against Portugal. England are unbeaten in seven games and have been winning for five in a row. They haven't lost consecutive games since September 2015 under Danny Blind. Gareth Southgate is looking to become the first England manager to win more than once against Netherlands. England haven’t lost against them since November 1946 under Walter Winterbottom. Netherlands have lost just one of five competitive matches with England.
Portugal have won four of their last seven matches against Switzerland. Switzerland have only won two of the last three games against Portugal. They are winless in their eight games played in Portugal, losing six and drawing twice.
England are looking to win for the first time since November 1946 against Netherlands. England have won only two of their last 14 matches against them. Netherlands have lost just one of the last five competitive matches with England. Gareth Southgate is looking for his first win against the Dutch in all competitions.
