Robert Earnshaw is in the BBC studio wearing the same rig he was in on Sky this morning. The thing with red and blue is you leave yourself open to accusations of dressing like Mario.
I can’t say I love the look of Xavi’s Netherlands outfit. The front three might be a handful, but there’s a severe lack of quality in midfield and the centre of defence is short of pace. For a coach used to Barcelona quality and principles, this is a tough gig.
Germany’s midfield looks interesting; Felix Nmecha looks like he might be ready to make good on his promise and step up a class, while Jamal Musiala is special, and Joshua Kimmich adds experience and intelligence. I do, though, wonder if the team has enough goals in it, and if it’ll be able to play a version of Klopp’s high-energy football without lots of time on the training ground, and preparing for tournaments that come at the end of tiring seasons.
I am, though, really looking forward to seeing what Klopp does with Lennart Karl. The 18-year-old missed the World Cup with injury and, though he was originally selected for the squad, he was ultimately swapped with Karim Adeyemi and sent to the seconds for reasons of workload management. But he’ll be back soon.
It’s always interesting to see what happens when a new manager takes over a squad, because we get to see which players they rate. Thing is, neither Xavi nor Klopp have all that many options and, genius though he is, at Liverpool Klopp benefitted from perhaps the greatest run of transfer success in football history – and he had a pretty decent squad at Dortmund too. Still, there aren’t many better rabble rousers or man-managers, and imagine what it’ll mean to players told by him – and Xavi – that he believes in them.
Phew!
Teams!
Group A2
Netherlands (4-3-3): Verbruggen; Dumfries, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Van de Ven; Gravenberch, Timber, Reijnders; Summerville, Brobbey, Gakpo. Subs: Roefs, Flekken, Geertruida, Hato, Ake, Lang, Frimpong, Til, Meerdink, Veerman, Koopmeiners, Van Bommel.
Germany (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Treu, Schlotterbeck, Tah, Brown; Kimmich, Musiala, Nmecha; Adeyemi, Havertz, Schade. Subs: Dahmen, Nubel, Bisseck, Rosenfelder, Engelhardt, Amiri, Vagnoman, Stech, Fuhrich, Gnabry, Behrens, Ebnoutalib.
**
Serbia (4-4-2): Milinkovic-Savic V; Simic, Erakovic, Pavlovic, Kostic; Zivkovic, Milinkovic-Savic S, Maksimovic, Cvetkovic; Tadic, Jovic. Subs: Petrovic, Stanlovic, Sukacev, Dragojevic, Gudelj, Stankovic, Joveljic, Babic, Terzic, Kostiv, Samardzic, Lukic.
Greece (4-4-2): Tzolakis; Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Retos, Tsimikas; Karetsas, Kourbelis, Zafeiris, Tzolis; Kostoulas, Pavlidis. Subs: Vlachodimos, Mandas, Koulierakis, Maouras, Ioannidis, Douvikas, Androutsos, Tetteh, Saliaks, Michailidis, Kyriakopoulos, Mouzakitis.
**
Group A4
Portugal (4-1-3-2): Costa; Cancelo, Veiga, Dias, Mendes; Neves; Fernandes, Vitinha, Neto; Ronaldo, Joao Felix. Subs: Rui Silva, Soares, Dalot, Araujo, Tavares, Palhinha, Ramos, Silva, Conceicao, J. Neves, Trincao, Leao.
Wales: (4-3-3): Ward; Williams, Cabango, Davies, Dasilva; James, Sheehan, Ampadu; Koumas, Johnson, Brooks. Subs: Cornell, King, Mepham, Burns, Cullen, Moore, Roberts, Norrington-Davies, Harris, Thomas, D. James, Colwill.
**
Norway (4-3-3): Nyland; Ryerson, Ajer, Heggem, Aursnes; Odegaard, Berge, Berg; Bobb, Haaland, Nusa. Subs: Tangvik, Selvik, Bjortuft, Ostigard, Moller Wolfe, Strand Larsen, Blomberg, Pedersen, Thorsvedt, Aasgaard, Schjelderup, Botheim.
Denmard (4-2-1-3): Jorgensen; Kristensen, Provstgaard, Andersen, Maehle; Hjulmand, Hojbjerg; Froholdt; Dorgu, Hojlund, Damsgasard. Subs: Jungdal, hermansen, Hogsberg, Nelsson, Isaksen, Jorgensen, Daghim, Bidstrup, Bak, Gaaei, Hogh, Gronbaek.
Righto, let’s have some teams…
Before we get into it, also going on:
Preamble
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.
Kick-offs: 7.45pm BST
Updated
