The Nations League finals results

The inaugural Uefa Nations League finals have come to a close, with Portugal winning the first edition. The final between Portugal and the Netherlands was not one that will live long in our memory, but Portugal will be very happy that they won the second European trophy in a row. It will give them confidence as well as going into next year’s Euro 2020. The final was decided by a Guedes goal on the 60th minute. The Netherlands had a couple of half chances, but never really threatened until the end, when they sent Van Dijk to be a striker, but even then, they couldn’t get an equaliser. This is the issue with the Netherlands, their defence and midfield are very good, but they are lacking in attacking options. Bernardo Silva was named player of the tournament, after his man of the match display in the final.

The match for third place was between England and Switzerland who lost their respective semi-finals. England were the more dominant team throughout the game but could not capitalize on their chance until the 85th minute when Wilson thought he scored the winner, only for it to be ruled out by VAR for a foul in the buildup. The match went into extra time with England again having various chances to win the game but couldn’t take them and the match went to penalties. England have a very bad record at penalties prior to last year’s World Cup where they beat Columbia on Penalties. This time around the first five takers were five different players to who took the penalties in the world Cup. However, they slotted them all home, with the last one being taken by keep Pickford. Switzerland marched them until the 6th Penalty which Pickford saved to place England in third.

The was the first Nations League tournament, and even though people were critical of it at the beginning it definitely added some more excitement to these matches and gave countries and extra small tournament to fight for.