The talking points from the inaugural UEFA Nations League

The group stage of first ever edition of the UEFA Nations League is almost over and there are many talking points to reflect upon.

We now know that Portugal, England, Switzerland and Holland will contest the Final Four next summer and we've seen some teams impress and shock in a positive way, while others have been disappointing.

Here, we discuss some of the main talking points.

The resurrection of Holland

Following the disappointments of missing out on Euro 2016 and on the 2018 World Cup, Ronaldo Koeman's Holland have put smiles back on Dutch faces.

Over the past weekend they outplayed France at home and beat the world champions 2-0, before digging in to fight back for a 2-2 draw in Germany, a result which sees them progress to the next stage.

Koeman has been able to introduce new talents and this young team is full of promise.

England built on their World Cup promise

Having reached the World Cup semi-finals, England are a stage ahead of Holland and left Russia proud of what they'd achieved.

The UEFA Nations League provided Gareth Southgate with an opportunity to prove that what happened in Russia was not a one-off and, despite a slow start, they defeated Spain 3-2 on the road and Croatia 2-1 at Wembley in their final two matches.

Harry Kane's late goal saw them gain some revenge on the Croats and kept the momentum going.

There's much more to Portugal than Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't taken part in this UEFA Nations League as he agreed to take a break from international duty after the World Cup, but his international teammates haven't missed him too much.

The Euro 2016 champions proved that they are certainly not a one-man team by easing into the Final Four with one game to spare.

With Goncalo Guedes and Andre Silva in attack, they have other options.

Switzerland provided the biggest shock

The biggest shock so far has come from Switzerland.

While it was never unthinkable that they might top their group with Belgium and Iceland, it did seem beyond unlikely when they were 2-0 down at home to the World Cup semi-finalists 20 minutes into the final match.

But they fought back to win 5-2 with authority against the top-ranked team in the world.

They'll go on to the Final Four and can't be written off.

The major disappointments

The fact that there have been so many positive surprises means that some sides have failed to live up to expectations.

Spain fall into this category, with La Roja starting so brightly before losing their final two games against England and Croatia by 3-2 scorelines.

Croatia will consider this a disappointing campaign too, as they suffered relegation after reaching the World Cup final.

As for the world champions France, they were punished by Holland's late comeback against Germany, but have nobody to blame but themselves for letting their fate slip out of their own hands.

Les Bleus took just seven points from their four matches when more might have been expected of them, as was the case with FIFA No.1-ranked side Belgium.

Meanwhile, Italy's doom and gloom continues as they followed up their World Cup absence with a stuttering showing in this campaign.

The biggest shock, though, has to be the performance of Germany, as the 2014 world champions took just two points from their four matches and were relegated with a round to spare.

It has not been a good 2018 for Die Mannschaft.

Relegations and promotions

Liga A

Relegated: Germany, Iceland, Poland and Croatia

Liga B

Promoted: Ukraine, Sweden or Russia, Bosnia and Denmark

Relegated: Slovakia, Turkey, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland

Liga C

Promoted: Israel or Scotland, Finland, Norway, Serbia or Romania

Relegated: Estonia, Cyprus, Slovenia and Lithuania

Liga D

Promoted: Georgia, Belarus, Kosovo or Azerbaijan and Macedonia