The Good 😀 the Bad 😕 the Ugly 👹: England's glory, Germany's pain | OneFootball

The final international break of 2018 was full of drama and intrigue and we never thought we’d say this, but we’re actually going to miss it between now and March.

Here’s our review of the weekend’s action …

The Good

England keep the good vibes alive

The Three Lions’ win over Croatia on Sunday conjured up wonderful memories of that beautiful summer in Russia when Gareth Southgate’s men did their country proud.

England performed brilliantly at Wembley as they came behind to exact revenge on their World Cup conquerors and claim their place in the Nations League Finals by finishing top of a very tricky group.

It’s another huge step in the right direction for the nation’s football team and it’s been a long time since an England match has produced such a fervent atmosphere at Wembley.

The Nations League has provided an extra level of competitive interest to what were once pretty boring international fixtures, and whoever came up with the idea deserves a pat on the back.

As for England, it looks like this young group of players could have a very bright future ahead of them on the international stage, and perhaps genuine glory is just around the corner.

The Dutch are well and truly back

International football really missed the Netherlands during their years in the wilderness, and their victory over France in Rotterdam on Friday night marked their triumphant return to the forefront of the world game.

After Ronald Koeman’s disappointing stint at Everton, it felt like his appointment by the national team reeked of desperation but so far, the former dead-ball specialist has shown that his talents are perhaps more suited to international football than the club equivalent.

Like England, this young Dutch side are at the beginning of their life-cycle and by the time Euro 2020 rolls around, they could really be blossoming into something quite special.

Beating world champions is no mean feat, but the Oranje were the best team by quite some distance at De Kuip and the two goalscorers – Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay – were particularly impressive.

On Monday night, they will have the chance to book their place in the Nations League Finals by beating Germany in Gelsenkirchen, and it’s a test you’d back them to pass.

Amer Shafi

Goal of the weekend goes to Jordan goalkeeper (yep, you read that right) Shafi, who did this in a friendly against India on Saturday …

The Bad

Germany’s nightmare year ends on a Löw note

With their calamitous World Cup campaign still fresh in their minds, Germany became the first big name to suffer the ignominy of Nations League relegation on Friday night.

That their demotion came as a result of their old rivals Holland beating France poured an ocean’s worth of salt into their gaping wounds.

Die Mannschaft have now won just four of their 12 matches in 2018 and it’s a year they will no doubt be glad to see the back of.

They will now join the likes of Iceland, Croatia and Poland in League B when the Nations League starts anew in 2020/21 but in terms of building up their confidence again, dropping down a level might actually be good for them.

Germany have some very talented youngsters coming through and Leroy Sané, in particular, will be hoping his first ever senior international goal in Thursday’s friendly win over Russia will be the start of things to come.

And while there is inevitably now a bit of clamour for Joachim Löw to step aside, German fans should perhaps be careful what they wish for.

Getting rid of a World Cup winning coach and bringing in someone with less experience is a gamble which could backfire badly and with the next major tournament just 19 months away, they might be better off sticking with what they’ve got for the time being.

Álvaro Morata

It feels like a lot of the criticism levelled at the Chelsea and Spain striker is unfair, but he brings it on himself when he does stuff like this …

The Ugly

The ugliest tackle of the weekend was probably this one, from Uruguay’s Lucas Torreira on Neymar in Friday’s “friendly” with Brazil.

By all accounts that’s just how they say hello in Montevideo, and we have a lot of time for it.

This challenge from Edinson Cavani on his PSG team-mate was pretty brutal too.

Apparently there’s no beef between those two. We’re not sure we believe that, to be honest.