Another big summer of football is about to begin for England. This won’t be as long as others, in fact, it will be over by Sunday, but there is at least one big game coming up for them, and a chance to win some silverware. Something that a lot of international teams struggle with is experience at winning big games and lifting trophies, unless they have a team full of successful club players. With the invention of the Nations League, countries will get the chance to play more big games, and battle it out for another trophy.

England will go into the Euro 2020 tournament next summer as one of the favourites to win the title, and the Nations League this summer gives them another taste of what it is like to play in a huge international game, and it could give them the opportunity to lift an international trophy.

This game comes at the end of what has been a very good season for English club teams, with the finalists for both the Champions League and Europa League all coming from England. That means two club European trophies, this week we could see an international trophy added to that tally.

To get there, not only do they have to overcome the Netherlands here, but they also have to get the better of either Portugal or Switzerland in the final which takes place on Sunday. Portugal are hosting this stage, so they have home advantage and that would give England something else to think about, should they get to the final and meet Portugal there.

There is another team in this game of course, the Netherlands, who are looking to rebuild their reputation as a force on the international stage. For many years we have seen them compete well in big tournaments, with their band of orange supporters following them around the globe. However, they did not make the World Cup last summer, although quickly made amends for that in the qualifying group of this competition.

It would be great to see a Dutch resurgence over the coming few years, and they are slowly producing better players to push them to do that. This tournament could be the start of it for them, and if they get past England then they would fancy their chances of going all the way.

England and Their Golden Period

We often talk about golden periods for an international team, we’ve had one in the past for England, just over a decade ago, and it looks as though we are now about to embark on the next. The big failure for the last generation of England players was that they didn’t win anything, something that this generation will be looking to avoid. The Nations League isn’t seen as a major trophy, but winning this competition would give these young players the taste of what it is like to win for your country, and sometimes that lack of experience has been England’s biggest problem.

Expectations going into the last World Cup were very low, and England came out and blew us all away. Few thought we would be sat down watching them compete in a World Cup semi final, but the Young Lions took their moment and decided to show the world what they are capable of.

We appear to have a bunch of very similar aged players appear at just the right time to drive England forward. Gareth Southgate was always a big believer in bringing youth into the England setup since he took over, and we are now seeing the rewards of that move by him, he has done an excellent job for his country.

I think the platform is there, and the basics have all been covered. Now what England need to do is show they can win. Their main targets will be the Euro 2020 Championships and the World Cup of 2022, but there would be nothing better to get them ready for that than to win this tournament. They’ve experienced a semi final together, and experienced defeat in it, something they will want to avoid in the future as it is not a nice feeling. Now they need to go out and experience what it is like to succeed in a game like that, because once they have felt that feeling, they won’t want anything else to happen other than that.

This tournament won’t define this bunch of England players, but it is something they can use on their path to the next big tournament. There is nothing like winning, and the feeling makes you want to win more. A victory here and a trophy to take home is going to be exactly what England need to spur them on ahead of Euro 2020.

England vs Netherlands Betting Tips

These second semi final and when these two take to the field they will know who is waiting for them in Sunday’s final. This is a big game for both teams and although Portugal have the advantage of being at home, I think whoever qualifies from this game will really fancy their chances in the final.

This tournament could be the boost that both of these need ahead of really kicking on in the big tournaments in 2020 and 2022, but for different reasons. England have shown us they are more than capable of winning a tournament like that, but need experience in winning in general, something that this tournament offers them the chance to do. The Netherlands have been in the background of international football somewhat over the past few years, and they are looking to get back onto the big stage. A win here would certainly announce that, and set them up to challenge once more in the big competitions, starting with Euro 2020 next year.

These two are very similar in terms of ability, but on their day I think England are the slightly better team. They are improving at a rapid rate too, and we could see them perform even better than we did last summer, which would of course make them incredibly difficult to beat.

I am going to side with Gareth Southgate’s men here, I think England have a great future ahead of them, and that can all start with a win in the Nations League this week. We saw great promise last year in the World Cup, now it is time for these players to deliver on that.

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