⚽ Updates across Thursday night’s Nations League games ⚽ Get in touch: email Daniel and follow us on BlueSky
If you support a men’s football team, chances are you’d happily do without this. The season starts, then it stops, and for what?
Well, I’ll tell you what: Netherlands v Germany is one of the classic fixtures, bigger than almost anything the club game has to offer – and that’s before we factor in that not only does each have a new manager, but those managers are, respectively, Xavi and Jürgen Klopp. If that doesn’t make you want to stop what you’re doing and plunge your head directly into the YouTube quicksand by way of preparation, you have my deepest sympathies.
It’s also the case that the Nations League, though we don’t look at it in the way we look at the World Cup and European Championships – despite England’s inability to win it – has made a difference to these international breaks. The matches come with consequences, meaning they’re taken more seriously, meaning all the better for us.
This one, of course, is our centrepiece, but there’s more. We’ll also get to enjoy Jorge Jesus begin life as the latest Portugal manager to allow a potentially great team to be hamstrung by Ronaldo – Wales visit Lisbon – with Norway taking on Denmark and Serbia hosting Greece, whose golden generation is preparing to explode.