It’s back, baby! It’s on like Donkey Kong in the Nations League!
As the dust settles on yet another epic season of high-octane club football, fans of the beautiful game’s attention shifts to the international area as we gear up for this year’s Nations League finals. With just 2 games separating 4 teams from silverware, fireworks are bound to fly in both Rotterdam and Enschede over the coming days!
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what this week’s crunch semi-final clashes have in store for us!
Contents:
- Netherlands vs Croatia
- Spain vs Italy
Netherlands vs Croatia
Netherlands will be hoping to make the most of home advantage in Wednesday’s showdown with Croatia as manager Ronald Koeman seeks to go one better than his last Nations League campaign and end his side’s 35-year wait to bag some silverware.
It was a rocky return to the Oranje hotseat for former Barca manager Koeman back in March as his men were on the wrong end of a 4-0 thrashing from France, with Kylian Mbappe bagging a brace. However, they did bounce back with a 3-0 win over minnows Gibraltar in their next outing to put their quest to reach Euro 2024 back on track.
That being said, Netherland’s recent form in the Nations League has been very impressive as they saw off the likes of Belgium and Poland to finish top dogs in League A Group 4 with 5 wins and a draw. Whilst they won’t be able to call upon the services of Memphis Depay, who’s been forced to withdraw due to injury, Koeman still has more than enough firepower at his disposal to send shivers down Croatian spins as both Cody Gakpo and Donyell Malen have brought the goods at club level this season.
What’s more, with the likes of Dumfries, Van Dijk, De Ligt and Aké propping up their defence, as well as the mercurial Frankie de Jong in the middle of the park, the Dutch will no doubt fancy their chances of picking up a result here.
That being said, things won’t be plain sailing for them on this occasion as they’ll have to overcome arguably international football’s biggest dark horses of recent times, Croatia. Vatreni defied the odds yet again at last year’s World Cup to secure a third-place finish and have been in fine form as of late, losing just 2 of their last 20 matches.
Despite making a terrible start to life in this iteration of the Nations League as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat to Austria in their group opener in captain fantastic Luka Modric’s absence, Zlatko Dalić’s men bounced back in style overcoming Denmark and reigning champions France to finish to book a place in the finals.
Moreover, with the likes of Modric, Joško Gvardiol, Matteo Kovacic and Ivan Perisic at their disposal, the Croatians have more than enough in their locker to cause their opponents quite a few headaches and will be eager to pick up a win here, given that this tournament arguably represents their “Golden Generation’s” last shot at picking up some silverware.
Interestingly, there isn’t much to go on as far as head-to-head data goes as these sides have only met twice before with both of them scoring a win each. We could be set for a tight game here which is decided by either a mistake or a moment of individual brilliance.
Whatever happens, this match looks set to be an absolute cracker!
Spain vs Italy
We’re set for a repeat of the 2021 Nations League semi-final on Thursday as Spain take on Italy. It was La Roja who came out on top on that occasion as they brought their opponents’ record-breaking 37-game unbeaten run to an abrupt end and they’ll no doubt be itching to secure another win on this occasion as they seek to go one better than they did in this tournament two years ago.
It’s all change for Spain at the moment as just six of their squad from 2021 have made the trip to The Netherlands for the Nations League finals. What’s more, they also have a new gaffer at the helm as former under-19 and under-21 coach Luis de la Fuente has taken over from Luis Enrique, who departed in the wake of La Roja’s shock exit at the World Cup at the hands of Morocco.
It’s been a somewhat bumpy start to life in the job for de la Fuenta as the joy of a 3-0 victory over Norway in his first game in charge proved to be short-lived as his side crashed to a 2-0 defeat against rank outsiders Scotland in Euro 2024 qualifying back in March and he’ll be desperate to pick up a win here to ease some of the pressure.
This clash could also be an ideal opportunity for more fringe players, such as Rodrigo Moreno, to showcase their skills in the absence of more regular call-ups, such as Pedri and Ferran Torres. Despite being relegated with Leeds United this season, the former Valencia man bagged 15 goals in 35 games in all competitions, prompting talk of a cut-price move to Real Madrid. The question is - will he be given the ideal opportunity to put himself in the shop window here?
The rebuild continues for Roberto Mancini and Gli Azzurri as they seek to rekindle the blistering run of form which ended in defeat the last time these sides met. In fact, this loss appears to have sent the Italians into a tailspin from which they are arguably still recovering as their failure to reach another World Cup has prompted Mancini to go back to the drawing board and focus his efforts on honing the next generation of footballing talent.
Although Italy’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign didn’t get off to the flying start they’d hoped for as they kicked things off with a 2-1 defeat to England, Mancini’s men bounced back with a 2-0 win over Malta.
However, one bright spark in both of these games was Matteo Retegui as the Argentine-born striker announced his arrival in the international stage in style by scoring on both of his first appearances for Italy. With a summer move to Inter Milan rumoured to be on the cards, Retegui will no doubt be raring to make it 3 in 3 and salvage some pride for his team, for whom the pain of missing out on last year’s World Cup is still very raw.
Whatever happens, this looks set to be a thrilling encounter that could go either way!