Hit #3 Finland
Drawn alongside more established nations such as EURO 2004 winners Greece, alongside Hungary, not many people expected Finland to make much of an impact in group 2 of League C, but the Finns shocked everyone by finishing top of the group and being promoted to League B.
Currently ranked 56th in the world, the Eagle-Owls defied expectations by picking up 12 points from their opening four matches to seal their promotion, with their only dropped points coming in their last two matches which were essentially dead rubbers.
Under the management of Markku Kanerva, Finland have gained a reputation of being extremely pragmatic in their play, winning matches by narrow margins much like Atletico Madrid at club level, and the Eastern Europeans brought all of these qualities to the fore in the Nations League.
They opened their Nations League campaign with three consecutive 1-0 victories, before posting a 2-0 victory over Greece at home to send them through to League B.
The next season of the Nations League would see Finland competing against much superior opposition, but on the strength of their defensive performances in recent times, they would fancy their chances of causing further disruption in the European football hierarchy.
Hit #2 England
Possessing arguably the best league in Europe for the last two decades, and having a plethora of world-class performers in their ranks, many people always tipped England to make a major impact at each of the major tournaments over the last 20 years.
But it always ended in disappointment as a ‘Golden Generation’ of players continually flopped and made a mockery of themselves at successive tournaments, leading the general public to fall out of love with the Three Lions.
The 2018 World Cup marked a shift from the norm, as England headed in with a lot of scepticism chiefly because of the underperformances of their predecessors, as well as the fact that Gareth Southgate went to Russia with an extremely inexperienced squad (only three players had prior experience of playing a World Cup match).
That seemed to work in their favour as England defied all expectations with a semi-final run enacting chant of its coming home, in what was to be their best performance at a World Cup in almost 30 years.
Players like Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling are leaders of the new frontier, and even though they are all extremely talented players in their own right, they are nowhere near matching the superstar levels attained by their predecessors such as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham to name a few.
Drawn alongside an ever-improving Spain as well as World Cup runners-up Croatia, it was expected to be a tough ride for The Three Lions in what was arguably the hardest draw they could get.
It was expected that they would struggle to make an impact in the group, and it seemed to be going according to predictions when England picked up just one point from their opening two matches and were staring relegation in the face.
They bounced back to inflict a 3-2 defeat on Spain, which was the first time the Spaniards had lost a home competitive match in over a decade. The victory was a morale booster, but The Three Lions still needed a victory in their final home match at Wembley to avoid being relegated.
The match had everything at stake, as both sides had their own destinies in their hands – win and qualify for the semi-final, lose and be relegated, but all the cards seemed to have been played into Croatia’s hands when they took the lead in the second half.
However, one key virtue of this team under Gareth Southgate has been their tenacity and mentality (which had been lacking in previous teams), and the English rallied back to inflict a 2-1 loss on Croatia, relegating them while gaining qualification and getting Wembley rocking in scenes which have not been seen in London when the national team played in a very long while.
England performed very well in their semi-final run at the World Cup, but many people believed it was a fluke, but with consecutive victories against the 2010 world champions as well as the current World Cup runners-up, England have shown that they are indeed here to stay and anyone who had been underrating them must stand up and take notice.