Paul MacInnes's report
So now the details have been ironed out, here is our report of the draw. Thanks for joining. Sorry for the confusion. See you in Portugal …
In other more clearcut news, England will host the Women’s 2021 European Championship. But there’s controversy there too. Louise Taylpr has the full story …
There’s been widespread confusion about who England are playing in the semi-finals. Uefa have struck again, seemingly calling out England v Switzerland in the draw. Hundreds of tweets have gone out to that affect. But it seems England are definitely playing the Netherlands.
NATIONS LEAGUE LATEST: All those who believe England will be playing Holland go into a two-legged play-off against all those who think they'll be playing Switzerland
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) December 3, 2018
England’s semi-final against the Netherlands will be played in Guimaraes in Portugal on 6 June. The final will take place three days later.
So England will take on the Netherlands in the glamour semi-final. Van Dijk v Kane, Depay v Walker, Wijnaldum v Henderson. A lot to look forward to there. Let me know your thoughts.
Semi-final 2
Netherlands v England
Updated
Semi-final 1
Portugal v Switzerland
Updated
Ok, we’re almost ready to go. Robbie Keane is part of the esteemed lineup.
Updated
So England will be aiming to end 53 years of hurt by the time the finals roll around next summer, but what of the other three sides in the last four? The Netherlands have been revitalised under Ronald Koeman, Switzerland came back from tow goals down to beat Belgium 5-2 in one of the most remarkable results of the group stage, and Portugal qualified for the finals without Cristiano Ronaldo. Depending who you believe, Ronaldo was either resting up or boycotting the Nations League because he missed out on the UEFA’s Best Player award to Luka Modric.
Will Ronaldo be back for the finals in his home county? Portugal’s manager, Fernando Santos, didn’t seem to know when asked recently. “There is no doubt. If you still have doubts, I don’t know,” he said. “But Cristiano Ronaldo is part of this team.”
The last major tournament to be held in Portugal was the 2004 European Championship, so Uefa are currently showing highlights of the tournament. Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry and John Dahl Tomasson were among the scorers. Oh the memories.
Updated
The Nations League. You’ve gotta love it haven’t you? It was the tournament no one really wanted. Just another Uefa flight of fancy, we all said. And then the fun started. Spain hammered the World Cup runners-up Croatia 6-0. The Netherlands thumped Germany. England won 3-2 in Spain. And that was before Harry Kane’s late winner in the decider against Croatia, and Van Dijk’s injury-time equaliser against Germany which saw the Netherlands snatch a finals place from France. And let’s not forget that Die Mannschaft were relegated! Let me know your thoughts on the competition as we approach the draw. Our own Barney Ronay is certainly a fan …
Hello world!
What a day this is. A day of days. After Derby Sunday it’s double-draw Monday, with the FA Cup third-round number-plucking to follow in the early evening. For draw fans this one might be a bit disappointing, being extremely short and underwhelmingly simple. There will be four names in the hat/crystal bowl, and they will be drawn out at random, one at a time, with no restrictions or seedings or other distractions. However Uefa have added a little complexity by deciding that the team drawn first shouldn’t play the team drawn second, but rather the team picked third. Thus these are the basic rules:
- The team drawn first is the home team of match pairing A.
- The team drawn second is the home team of match pairing B.
- The third team drawn completes match pairing A as the away team.
- The fourth team drawn will be the away team of match pairing B.
The match pairing which includes Portugal, the hosts, is considered to be semi-final 1, which will be played in Porto on Wednesday 5 June 2019. The other match pairing plays semi-final 2 in Guimaraes on Thursday, 6 June 2019.
Bonus unnecessary extra draw because why not?
There will then be a second draw, to determine who will be the designated home team in the final. There will be two balls in this hat/bowl/whatever, representing the two semi-finals. The teams who contest the semi-final drawn first will be the home teams in the final and the third-place play-off.
The final and third-place match will be played on Sunday 9 June 2019.
