Nations League 2019: Gareth Southgate's men facing latest checkpoint on route to the top

Having made so much progress over the past 12 months, the next two questions loom over England. Can they get to a final? And can they win one when they do?

The story of the Gareth Southgate era so far has been meticulous progress down a checklist of questions and challenges, the things people did not think an England team could do. The things England saw other national teams do, but thought would always be beyond them. But since Southgate got the job back in October 2016, he has been ticking them off one by one.

Could they move on from the ‘Golden Generation’ and build a new team? Yes. Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Pickford and Marcus Rashford, the boys of the mid and late 1990s, are the stars now. The oldest outfield players in this squad, Fabian Delph and Kyle Walker, are still in their 20s.

Could they go to a tournament and play expansive football? Yes, they went to Russia, opened up the pitch and attacked, the first time an England team has gone on the front foot at a tournament since Euro 2004.

Could they win a penalty shoot-out? Yes, they beat Colombia in the last-16 of the World Cup, even after the agony of an injury time equaliser, and even after Jordan Henderson’s early missed kick.

Could they win a knockout game away from home? Yes, first Colombia in Moscow and then a 2-0 stroll against Sweden in Samara at the World Cup.

Then, after the World Cup, could they beat serious opposition in competitive games? Yes, they went to Seville and beat Spain 3-2, the performance highpoint of the Southgate era. Then they scrambled through to these finals by coming from behind to beat Croatia 2-1 at Wembley.

No they have not been perfect, and they will never forget that night at the Luzhniki when they were 25 minutes away from the World Cup final before letting the game out of their grasp. But they have put together more consistent bankable progress, one gain after another, than anyone could have expected back when our national conversation was dominated by that grainy secret camera photograph of an alleged pint of wine.

Now the next two questions loom over England. Can they get to a final? And can they win one when they do?

The Nations League is not the World Cup but it is not the Wayne Rooney Foundation International either. To get here England have had to play better than they ever done to get to a World Cup or European Championship, and that alone gives it weight. It also looks and feels like a traditional tournament, away in the exotic June sun, up against the heavyweights of the European game.

Ultimately there is no objective standard of how much the Nations League ‘means’; it can only mean as much as people want it to. And if the coaches, players and fans of the four countries do treat it like a “real tournament”, and pour that meaning into it, then it will be one. There is nothing more to it than that.

So if England are to leave Portugal with any sense of continued progress, of momentum going into next year, they will need to win again on Thursday night. Lose that game and Sunday’s third-place play-off in Guimaraes will be a meaningless friendly for tired players who wished they were on holiday. Win, and they can put more distance between that night in the Luzhniki last July and the reality of where this England team now is.

That is why Gareth Southgate will want to throw everything he has against a resurgent Dutch side on Thursday. In England’s last semi-final they were up against a canny Croatia team who had been together for years, and just had too much intelligence, too much nous for England on the night. This time they will face a team in a similar phase of development to them, having finally cast off their old generation and now rebuilding around a new one.

Victory tomorrow night will be the latest indicator of how far this England side has come under Southgate (Reuters)

The big question for Southgate, as it was for Mauricio Pochettino in Madrid on Saturday, comes down to the fitness of Harry Kane. Pochettino decided that after almost eight weeks out with an ankle injury, Kane was still worth throwing straight in. He did not look at his physical sharpest but he did show flickers of that playmaking intelligence when he dropped deep in the second half.

That alone might be enough to make Southgate’s mind up. Because England are even more dependent on Kane than Tottenham are, especially when he drops deep and orchestrates play. That was the secret to England’s 3-2 win in Seville, that combination with the incisive running of Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford beyond him. Arsene Wenger once famously described Robin van Persie as a ‘nine and a half’, and England have no-one else who can do that combination of 9 and 10 roles quite like Kane can.

In midfield, where Southgate still does not know his best combination, the choices are less clear. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is injured, Harry Winks is not in the squad while Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier and Dele Alli all arrive after very different experiences in Madrid. Fabian Delph may be brought in. Assistant manager Steve Holland spoke about him in glowing terms yesterday, even though Delph barely played for Manchester City in the second half of the season.

“If we go back to qualifying for the Nations League finals, the Croatia game at home last November, Fabian was arguably our best player in that game,” Holland told Five Live. “He can play in any of those three positions in midfield, right left or centre, and is a player with athleticism, leadership and quality. Frankly if he had been at any other club than the champions of England he would have been playing much more frequently. There is the leadership and experience and he is a player we can trust.”

Whatever midfield Southgate picks will have to go up against Donny van de Beek, Georginio Wijnaldum and Frenkie de Jong, a fearsome combination in the middle of the pitch. Last time England played a semi-final, 11 months ago, they lost the midfield battle comprehensively. Another mark in England’s journey for them to tick off.