Bruno disguises a lush ball in behind, striking across it and threading it through the near side of the defence, and Ronaldo slides across Ward and low into the far corner.

Timber powers through midfield and finds Gakpo … whose square-pass is poor. Holland's lack of attacking class is remarkable – in 2004, say, they had Van Hooijdonk, Van Nistelrooy, Makaay, Overmars, Robben and Kluivert.

"What could go wrong under Jesus?" returns Nelson Calvinho. "Exactly what you said, Daniel: he won't get to develop players in international football. There's also his hubris and stubbornness. At times his football is too attacking and leaves his teams exposed. He famously didn't rate Bernardo Silva either, and played him at left-back at Benfica...

On the flip side, one thing that stopped him doing even better in his career is his combustible personality (Mourinho on steroids), which tends to grate on players after a while. That shouldn't be much of a problem with the national side, as he won't be with them day in, day out.

I still have high hopes for him as Portugal's manager, purely because his tactical acumen is up there with the best in the world. All his teams, from Benfica and Sporting to Flamengo, have played incredibly exciting football. And yes, I was hoping Jesus would be the one with big enough cojones to leave Ronaldo out. Sigh..."

Is there a clamour in Portugal to get him gone? In England he'd have been hounded into retirement tiiiiime ago.

Footballers I'd rather not ruck (but obviously could take if I had to): Uncle Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

"Portugal v Wales, and a painful reminder that one of the greatest month of my life was 10 (TEN!!!) years ago," says Matt Dony. "The inexorable creep of time. Portugal looked so damn beatable in Euro 2016, but you can't legislate for Ronaldo scoring header. Of course he's not the same player now, but the scars remain. Every time he touches the ball, I expect him to suddenly become CR7 again. He'll definitely score. Theres not a doubt in This Sullen Welsh Heart. (Thanks, Nicky Wire)."

Well, he's just made a mess of a diving header for 2-0 but, on the plus side, it gave us a decent look at his yellow highlights.

We're away again in Lisbon and Oslo; Belgrade and Dam soon come.

Half-time email: "Not a lot happening in Lisbon," reports Gareth Rogers. "My personal highlight was the 'You're just a shit Gareth Bale!!' chant from the traveling fans after Ronaldo spurned an easy chance to further pad his goal scoring stats against weak teams, threw his arms dramatically in the air and pointed at the imaginary divot. I will so miss him when he's gone."

An international level, that song is true of almost everyone. At club level, brilliant though he was, in the company he kept I felt Bale lacked a bit of guile and finesse. But I can't think of many better international footballers than him.

There's a pleasing tetch to this one and a growing sense of injustice in the Dutch ranks. The second half should be decent.

"First half report from Kosovo is that Kosovo are all over Ireland like a duck on a junebug," says JR in Illinois. "That they're not up at least 3-0 is bordering on the miraculous."

Ireland are drawing 0-0 in Kosovo at the break.

Since Denmark halved the deficit, they've been the better team – this is another really fun contest.

Greece has been excellent since going behind, but Serbia had a great chance to make it 2-0 in what is really enjoyable game.

Portugal are much too good for Wales, but only have a one-goal lead to show for their superiority.

Back to Nelson's email, you don't really get to develop players in international football – it's more about picking a team that works. I'd like a bit more pace up front, though I suppose not many teams squeeze high, and I'd definitely like Joao Neves in the team – I'd put Neto up front instead of Ronaldo and work it out that way.

Amiri lifts a fine ball over the top for the marauding Brown and, rousting into the box, he might shoot himself, but instead makes sure, squaring for Adeyemi … who somehow shoots over the top! Klopp can only laugh, before applauding the approach-work. That was some miss.

"As much as I dislike Jorge Jesus as a person," writes Nelson Calvinho, "the truth is he's an elite 'teacher' manager, whose attacking, demanding, micromanaging style dramatically raises the tactical awareness and technical quality of his players. He's absolutely obsessed about details. UK media just don't rate him highly enough, or completely ignore him, because he's never managed in one of your so-called big five leagues.

But when you think of the players he developed or revitalised into elite footballers (Di Maria, David Luiz, Matic, Ramires, Rafael Leão, Fábio Coentrão, Oblak, Bruno Fernandes, Enzo Perez, Axel Witsel and more, many of whom have publicly called him the best coach they ever had), it's hard not to dream about what he'll make of this Portugal side. If we can't do it with Jorge Jesus, we probably never will."

You never know how international football will work, but as long as he's picking Ronaldo, I can't see Portugal winning anything.

PSA: earlier today, Eoin Morgan said that Sri Lanka's total was "in and around par". It's such a buzz to see groundbreaking stuff like that.

Brobbey is replaced by Mexx Meerdink who, if nothing else, has a tremendous name. Which of us wouldn't love a dub-X?

With Brobbey down and wanting treatment, having done his hammy running, Germany play on, Kimmich lifts a cross-kick over to the right, Treu crosses low, and though Adeyemi can't turn in at the near post, Nmecha arrives on the scene to punch in the opener. As youj might imagine, Van Dijk is now even less dignant than previously, and there's minor argy-bargy before we get going again.

Back in Belgrade, Jovic has just blasted over from close range – that should've been 2-0. And, in Amsterdam, Ebnoutalib hammers a rising shot from a tight angle that Verbruggen has to beat away.

Havertz walks off without much limping, but goes straight down the tunnel; Younes Ebnoutalib replaces him.

Timber accidentally treads on Havertz, who doesn't enjoy it all; I fear that may be his evening done. On the plus side, I also enjoy Germany's kit.

As promised, those Netherlands tops.

A free-kick 22 yards out goes over the wall and in, but it wasn't even close to the corner; Nyland doesn't move never mind dive, and I've no idea why.

It's been one-way traffic until now and Mendes moves forward with the ball, finding Felix 25 yards from goal and unmarked. He advances, Davies opting not to close him down, and when the shot flicks off him, Ward is slow to dive, perhaps because of the deflection, but really, he should be stopping that.

Netherlands are putting it on Germany, winning another corner. Brobbey is again in front of the goalie, and the ref pauses matters to intercede, then the ball goes short, and this time Van Dijk can't get a head on it. Imagine how indignant he is about that disallowed goal – I didn't think he could get any more so, especially after his press-conference show yesterday, but he may have managed it.

Nusa screeches forward – his speed with the ball is intense – sliding a reverse-pass in behind for Haaland, down the left side of the box. The finish is instant, snapped low, hard and through the keeper's legs, in off an ankle.

Bobb prompts on the right of the box, to no avail, but Norway recycle and Odegaard finds him again in a similar position. This time, he slows it all down, stopping before bending a lovely finish around his man and into the far side-netting, a third of the way up. That's his first international goal.

If that's a foul, Arsenal scored about four goals last season.

But the ref is sent to the monitor … did Brobbey impede the keeper? Er, barely. He stands in front of him, but doesn't really move; if this is disallowed, Ter is a very lucky little Stegen.

The captain gets the Xavi era off to a great start, winning a near-post header under little pressure while, behind him, Ter Stegen flounders.

it's such a shame he's gone to Saudi, because he looked ready to step up a level.

Now of to Lisbon, where Vitinha slides Ronaldo into the box, left-hand side, and he looks low to the far pots, but the ball skips a couple of yards wide. I'd prefer not to keep going on about him, but he could actually be useful late in games, either hunting in the box or holding the ball up. The problem is the impact he has on the style a team can play when the game is steady.

Patrick Dorgu is playing right-wing for Denmark, and he forces Nyland into a scrambling save at his near post having cut inside to shoot.

Karetsas stabs a lovely chip from the edge of the box that beats the keeper … and clips the outside of the far post. The invention in that effort was lovely, no one other than him expected him to try and score in that way.

After two years away, retired from international football, 37-year-old Dusan Tadic runs in behind to lift a bouncing ball square into the middle, controlling a difficult skill beautifully, and Zivkovic arrives on to it to punish a first-time finish into the net. Celebrations are wild.

Klopp flexes his newtons on the touchline, his Germany team starting like they're one of his. He's also wearing his Adidas cap, trefoil in Germany colours, as part of the "positive patriotism" he's advocating for,

I'm looking forward to watching Greece. They're without Giannis Konstantelias, who's done his cruciate, but Karetsis is a serious player, and so is Kostoulas.

Though I'm not at all sure about the team, the Dutch tracky jackets are dead smart. Photo to follow, should there be one.

As we wait for kick-off, something that has caused me ire this week:

Where are chilli McCoy's? T-Bone steak Roysters? Skips?

Out come our various teams…

Wales, meantime, are without Karl Darlow, Dylan Lawlor and Joe Rodon, Rubin Colwilll, Harry Wilson, Nathan Broadhead and Isaak Davies. I imagine they'll defend deep, but Portugal have no pace in behind, so they could actually squeeze up and see what happens.

I've not a clue why Jorge Jesus hasn't preferred Joao to Ruben Neves, or played both and left Ronaldo out, but here we are, making the least of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, who's also on the bench.

It's unbelievable really – Ronaldo hasn't be a net positive at international level in at least two tournaments, yet here we go again. He's not the only thing wrong with Portugal – Roberto Martinez wasn't exactly what you'd want – but with the players they have, they should be involved at the end of tournaments, and they've not even been close, nor have they been good prior to elimination. Rarely has so little been made of so much.

Robert Earnshaw is in the BBC studio wearing the same rig he was in on Sky this morning. The thing with red and blue is you leave yourself open to accusations of dressing like Mario.

I can't say I love the look of Xavi's Netherlands outfit. The front three might be a handful, but there's a severe lack of quality in midfield and the centre of defence is short of pace. For a coach used to Barcelona quality and principles, this is a tough gig.

Germany's midfield looks interesting; Felix Nmecha looks like he might be ready to make good on his promise and step up a class, while Jamal Musiala is special, and Joshua Kimmich adds experience and intelligence. I do, though, wonder if the team has enough goals in it, and if it'll be able to play a version of Klopp's high-energy football without lots of time on the training ground, and preparing for tournaments that come at the end of tiring seasons.

I am, though, really looking forward to seeing what Klopp does with Lennart Karl. The 18-year-old missed the World Cup with injury and, though he was originally selected for the squad, he was ultimately swapped with Karim Adeyemi and sent to the seconds for reasons of workload management. But he'll be back soon.

It's always interesting to see what happens when a new manager takes over a squad, because we get to see which players they rate. Thing is, neither Xavi nor Klopp have all that many options and, genius though he is, at Liverpool Klopp benefitted from perhaps the greatest run of transfer success in football history – and he had a pretty decent squad at Dortmund too. Still, there aren't many better rabble rousers or man-managers, and imagine what it'll mean to players told by him – and Xavi – that he believes in them.

Verbruggen; Dumfries, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Van de Ven; Gravenberch, Timber, Reijnders; Summerville, Brobbey, Gakpo. Roefs, Flekken, Geertruida, Hato, Ake, Lang, Frimpong, Til, Meerdink, Veerman, Koopmeiners, Van Bommel.

Ter Stegen; Treu, Schlotterbeck, Tah, Brown; Kimmich, Musiala, Nmecha; Adeyemi, Havertz, Schade. Dahmen, Nubel, Bisseck, Rosenfelder, Engelhardt, Amiri, Vagnoman, Stech, Fuhrich, Gnabry, Behrens, Ebnoutalib.

Milinkovic-Savic V; Simic, Erakovic, Pavlovic, Kostic; Zivkovic, Milinkovic-Savic S, Maksimovic, Cvetkovic; Tadic, Jovic. Petrovic, Stanlovic, Sukacev, Dragojevic, Gudelj, Stankovic, Joveljic, Babic, Terzic, Kostiv, Samardzic, Lukic.

Tzolakis; Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Retos, Tsimikas; Karetsas, Kourbelis, Zafeiris, Tzolis; Kostoulas, Pavlidis. Vlachodimos, Mandas, Koulierakis, Maouras, Ioannidis, Douvikas, Androutsos, Tetteh, Saliaks, Michailidis, Kyriakopoulos, Mouzakitis.

Costa; Cancelo, Veiga, Dias, Mendes; Neves; Fernandes, Vitinha, Neto; Ronaldo, Joao Felix. Rui Silva, Soares, Dalot, Araujo, Tavares, Palhinha, Ramos, Silva, Conceicao, J. Neves, Trincao, Leao.

Ward; Williams, Cabango, Davies, Dasilva; James, Sheehan, Ampadu; Koumas, Johnson, Brooks. Cornell, King, Mepham, Burns, Cullen, Moore, Roberts, Norrington-Davies, Harris, Thomas, D. James, Colwill.

Nyland; Ryerson, Ajer, Heggem, Aursnes; Odegaard, Berge, Berg; Bobb, Haaland, Nusa. Tangvik, Selvik, Bjortuft, Ostigard, Moller Wolfe, Strand Larsen, Blomberg, Pedersen, Thorsvedt, Aasgaard, Schjelderup, Botheim.

Jorgensen; Kristensen, Provstgaard, Andersen, Maehle; Hjulmand, Hojbjerg; Froholdt; Dorgu, Hojlund, Damsgasard. Jungdal, hermansen, Hogsberg, Nelsson, Isaksen, Jorgensen, Daghim, Bidstrup, Bak, Gaaei, Hogh, Gronbaek.

Righto, let's have some teams…

Before we get into it, also going on:

If you support a men's football team, chances are you'd happily do without this. The season starts, then it stops, and for what?

Well, I'll tell you what: Netherlands v Germany is one of classic fixtures, bigger than almost anything the club game has to offer – and that's before we factor in that not only does each have a new manager, but those managers are, respectively, and . If that doesn't make you want to stop what you're doing and plunge your head directly into the YouTube quicksand by way of preparation, you have my deepest sympathies.

It's also the case that the Nations League, though we don't look at it in the way we look at the World Cup and European Championships – despite England's inability to win it – has made a difference to these international breaks. The matches come with consequences, meaning they're taken more seriously, meaning all the better for us.

This one, of course, is our centrepiece, but there's more. We'll also get to enjoy Jorge Jesus begin life as the latest Portugal manager to allow a potentially great team to be hamstrung by Ronaldo – Wales visit Lisbon – with Norway taking on Denmark and Serbia hosting Greece, whose golden generation is preparing to explode.

7.45pm BST