~snip~
there is no question in my mind that the Nations League is a complete waste of time and energy on the part of the players. with the world cup approaching, i don't think there is time for players to play in the Nations League as well as the possibility of them getting injured since there are key players for a nation who can single-handedly win any match they play in. in spite of this, i have to admit that i was very disappointed with both Germany and England during the match. they may have been playing safe so that no players get injured, but even after that their games were really slow-paced, so it could be that they were playing safe to prevent any injuries.
There's also the fact that the Nations League prevents South American teams to play against most of the best teams in the world for practice.
Argentina ended up playing against Honduras recently for a friendly match, and Messi got almost injured from it.
Still Argentina seems to have hopes for this world cup. Here's some background about it:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/24/against-all-odds-lionel-messi-has-one-last-shot-at-world-cup-glory-with-argentina