Nations League analysis of England, Holland, Portugal and Switzerland

England

For a time it looked like football was coming home last summer as the nation got swept up in World Cup fever before England had to settle for fourth spot in Russia.

They have built on their semi-final outing by dishing out a small dose of revenge to their World Cup nemesis Croatia and with a stunning 3-2 success in Spain which highlighted the rapid improvement of their young team.

Southgate's biggest issue is a lack of preparation time as eight of his squad competed in the recent all-Premier League Europa and Champions League finals.

Coach: Gareth Southgate
Key player: Raheem Sterling
Squad - goalkeepers: J Butland, T Heaton, J Pickford.
Defenders: T Alexander-Arnold, B Chilwell, J Gomez, M Keane, H Maguire, D Rose, J Stones, K Walker.
Midfielders: D Alli, R Barkley, F Delph, E Dier, J Henderson, J Lingard, D Rice.
Strikers: H Kane, M Rashford, J Sancho, R Sterling, C Wilson.

Holland

The Dutch are back and it's a welcome sight for most football fans to see the Oranje booming once more following their failure to qualify for the last two major tournaments. They did it the hard way, too, by overcoming France and Germany.

Ronald Koeman has not been afraid to blood Ajax's exciting young players who reached the Champions League semi-finals and Virgil van Dijk alongside Matthijs de Ligt has the potential to be the best centre-back partnership in world football.

Holland's major concern is whether Memphis Depay, usually a winger for Lyon, has the consistency to score the goals with few genuine strikers available to Koeman.

Coach: Ronald Koeman
Key player: Virgil van Dijk
Squad - goalkeepers: M Bizot, J Cillessen, K Vermeer.
Defenders: N Ake, D Blind, M de Ligt, S de Vrij, D Dumfries, H Hateboer, P van Aanholt, V van Dijk
Midfielders: F de Jong, M de Roon, D Propper, K Strootman, D van de Beek, T Vilhena, G Wijnaldum.
Forwards: R Babel, S Bergwijn, L de Jong, M Depay, Q Promes.

Portugal

Home advantage has to be seen as a plus for Portugal, who are the reigning European champions. They always looked in control of their Nations League qualifying campaign despite Fernando Santos taking the decision to rest star man Cristiano Ronaldo.

As ever Ronaldo will be Portugal's focal point, but midfielders Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes come into the tournament after outstanding domestic campaigns, while there is huge excitement regarding the potential of Benfica's teenage forward Joao Felix.

Santos, however, is not usually one to throw in youngsters and centre-back veterans Pepe (36) and Jose Fonte (35) are still involved.

Coach: Fernando Santos
Key player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Squad - goalkeepers: Beto, Rui Patricio, J Sa.
Defenders: R Guerreiro, M Rui, N Semedo, J Cancelo, R Dias, Pepe, J Fonte.
Midfielders: B Fernandes, D Pereira, W Carvalho, Pizzi, R Neves, J Moutinho.
Forwards: B Silva, C Ronaldo, D Jota, D Sousa, J Felix, G Guedes, R Silva.

Switzerland

The Swiss were surprise qualifiers, given they had to overcome Belgium, but they did that in remarkable style, coming back from two goals down to beat the World Cup semi-finalists 5-2.

Despite that blitz, Switzerland are not renowned as an attacking force with striker Haris Seferovic far from an elite forward and much of their inspiration comes from Xherdan Shaqiri.

The Liverpool man arrives as a Champions League winner, albeit he is not hugely influential for the Reds, but it's a different story for Switzerland as Shaqiri holds the key to any international success.

Coach: Vladimir Petkovic
Key player: Xherdan Shaqiri
Squad - goalkeepers: Y Sommer, Y Mvogo, J Omlin.
Defenders: M Akanji, L Benito, N Elvedi, M Lang, K Mbabu, J-F Moubandje, R Rodriguez, F Schar.
Midfielders: E Fernandes, R Freuler, X Shaqiri, D Sow, R Steffen, G Xhaka, D Zakaria, S Zuber.
Forwards: J Drmic, B Embolo, H Seferovic, N Okafer.

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