The first phase of the inaugural UEFA Nations League was played last autumn and it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a success.

The extent to which teams and players embraced the Nations League was always going to be more crucial to its fortunes than its inherent complexities. Relegation was its Trojan horse.

Winning a Nations League group, or indeed the whole thing, might not carry much weight. But no professional football player wants to be relegated.

The prospect of being among the first players ever relegated at international level was the single biggest reason the opening league phase was well received. The games were taken seriously. They had drama. They had jeopardy. They had surprises.

Arguably England topping Group A4 ahead of Spain and Croatia - both defeated over 90 minutes by Gareth Southgate’s side - was one of those surprises.

England might have been relegated into League B but instead captured a place in the first Nations League finals, which take place in Portugal this week.

England

The second semi-final, in Guimarães on Thursday, pits England against the Netherlands and their old foe, Ronald Koeman.

Southgate initially named a 27-man squad before cutting four, leaving him with a familiar group.

Southampton pair Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse were selected for the 27 with an eye on next season. Harry Winks of Tottenham Hotspur was a fitness doubt, removed from the squad before he started Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final.

His clubmate, Kieran Trippier, is a different story. After Spurs’ defeat to Liverpool in that final he was candid in his comments, acknowledging the shortcomings of his season and accepting that he deserved to be dropped.

There are no shock inclusions in the 23. Declan Rice continues his ascension towards England midfield regular. He has the joint fewest caps to date, two, yet both he and Callum Wilson already feel like certs when a squad is named.

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Indeed, Wilson may be expecting to start against the Netherlands. Harry Kane’s injury absence came to a premature end against Liverpool and he looked short of fitness despite some clever hold-up play.

The Champions League final was played just a few days before the Nations League games and the overlap is unlikely to work in England’s favour; a staggered rendezvous was the solution and England’s Liverpool and Spurs players reported last.

The impact of that all-English final is likely to be more mental than physical for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Kane, and I expect Southgate to seek a balance in managing that.

The UNL finals are to be taken seriously and the make-up of his squad suggests the England manager agrees. However, he’ll also be aware of the players’ need to be deployed appropriately after such a massive match.

England’s last match against the Netherlands was a 1-0 friendly win in Amsterdam in March 2018, Jesse Lingard with the goal. Two years before that Roy Hodgson’s England were beaten 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley.

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Should England find a way past the Dutch on Thursday they’ll face either Portugal or Switzerland in the final in Porto on Sunday. If they lose, a third place play-off in Guimarães beckons.

Netherlands

Koeman’s men qualified for the finals by winning Group A1, which saw them pick up two wins and a draw in their matches against second-placed France and relegated Germany.

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Despite Germany’s problems that was a tough group; the Netherlands’ success isn’t to be sniffed at. Their two wins were home matches and they didn’t concede in either, but it was a dramatic late recovery to draw in Gelsenkirchen that secured their finals place.

Koeman’s team has been on an upward curve since missing out on the FIFA World Cup last year and his squad is certainly not short on ability.

Captain Virgil van Dijk joined up after winning the Champions League, of course, and there are plenty of other Premier League players available for selection against England.

Nathan Aké, Patrick van Aanholt, Davy Pröpper, Gini Wijnaldum and Ryan Babel have all been selected.

Memphis Depay and Daley Blind also had spells in the Premier League, and Blind is one of four representatives from the Ajax team that reached the Champions League semis.

Portugal

European champions Portugal won twice and drew twice in Group A3, where their opponents were Italy and Poland.

They beat Italy 1-0 in Lisbon and won 3-2 away in Poland. Sevilla’s Andre Silva scored in three of their four matches.

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Fernando Santos named five Premier League players in his Nations League finals squad, four of them from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Diogo Jota, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio are joined by Manchester City’s brilliant Bernardo Silva.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Fonte should also be known to English fans - the former will be hoping that his 158th cap will be a final, not a formality.

England last met Portugal way back in June 2016, winning 1-0 at Wembley in a UEFA EURO 2016 warm-up match.

Portugal went on to succeed in the tournament. England did not.

Switzerland

Vladimir Petković’s Switzerland qualified for the finals as winners of Group A2, where they edged out Belgium on head-to-head goal difference after they both booted the shit out of Iceland.

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The Swiss beat Iceland 6-0 in their first match before losing to Belgium in Brussels. They beat Iceland again and then faced Belgium in the last game. A Haris Seferović hat-trick - really! - in Lucerne helped Switzerland overcome an early 2-0 deficit to win 5-2.

Switzerland’s squad features Fabian Schär (Newcastle United), Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool) and Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), alongside six players based in Switzerland and no fewer than nine in Germany. Five of them play for Borussia Mönchengladbach.

England defeated Switzerland in a friendly at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium last September, Marcus Rashford scoring the only goal of the game.