So it strikes me that the good thing about this new Nations League is that countries are taking it more seriously than the average friendly and care - at least a little bit - about winning those games. It's a title to want to win, or possibly an embarrassing relegation to want to avoid, and could even be a backdoor into the Euros.
The downside is that those very few friendlies left remaining on the calendar - such as this one against Switzerland - are going to be taken even less seriously than before and are going to be viewed as an opportunity to go hyper-experimental and rest a bunch of stars.
There really is no point having them any more, except as a tune-up just before major tournaments. But I suppose as long as they can still sell out a Premiership stadium at 45 quid a head, money is going to talk.
