Just when you thought proper football was back here's the International Break - September 2024
Yet another opportunity for our very expensive players to represent their country and get injured
Alvarez had been left out of the Mexico squad for friendlies against New Zealand and Canada
Ghana are first to play and Kudus is likely to start
Angola 5pm Thursday Niger 4pm Monday
Rodriguez has been on the bench 24 of the last 25 games for Argentina with just three appearances
Chile 1:00am Friday Colombia 9:30pm Tuesday
Areola has been on the bench 27 games in a row, his last appearance for France was 25 September 2022
Italy 7:45pm Friday Belgium 7:45pm Tuesday
Antonio will be the last player in action at stupid o'clock Wednesday morning in sunny Tegucigalpa
Cuba 1am Saturday Honduras 3am Wednesday
Paqueta has started every match since his return from betting-related exile
Ecuador 2am Saturday Paraguay 1:30am Wednesday.
Will a change of England manager mean Bowen gets a look in?
Ireland 5pm Saturday, Finland 7:45pm Tuesday
Captain Soucek and Coufal are pretty much nailed on to start for Czechia
Georgia 5pm Saturday Ukraine 7:45pm Tuesday
Ditto Mavrapanos for Greece
Finland 7:45pm Saturday Ireland 7:45pm Tuesday
Fullkrug isn't a regular starter for Germany but he made an appearance in every game of the Euros
Hungary 7:45pm Saturday Netherlands 7:45pm Tuesday
Alvarez had been left out of the Mexico squad for friendlies against New Zealand and Canada
Ghana are first to play and Kudus is likely to start
Angola 5pm Thursday Niger 4pm Monday
Rodriguez has been on the bench 24 of the last 25 games for Argentina with just three appearances
Chile 1:00am Friday Colombia 9:30pm Tuesday
Areola has been on the bench 27 games in a row, his last appearance for France was 25 September 2022
Italy 7:45pm Friday Belgium 7:45pm Tuesday
Antonio will be the last player in action at stupid o'clock Wednesday morning in sunny Tegucigalpa
Cuba 1am Saturday Honduras 3am Wednesday
Paqueta has started every match since his return from betting-related exile
Ecuador 2am Saturday Paraguay 1:30am Wednesday.
Will a change of England manager mean Bowen gets a look in?
Ireland 5pm Saturday, Finland 7:45pm Tuesday
Captain Soucek and Coufal are pretty much nailed on to start for Czechia
Georgia 5pm Saturday Ukraine 7:45pm Tuesday
Ditto Mavrapanos for Greece
Finland 7:45pm Saturday Ireland 7:45pm Tuesday
Fullkrug isn't a regular starter for Germany but he made an appearance in every game of the Euros
Hungary 7:45pm Saturday Netherlands 7:45pm Tuesday
Comments
I could understand there are possibly some football fans in perhaps Bulgaria that get to see Mbappe play which wouldn't happen otherwise, but for me that's not a reason to inconvenience the domestic calendar to the extent it does.
I think maybe in countries with major leagues it’s an inconvenience but for others it’s a big thing. Maybe also for countries that either win things or don’t have hopes(/delusions) of winning them it’s easier to go along for the ride.
African teams are playing qualifiers for the 2025 African Cup of Nations, CONCACAF are playing qualifiers for the 2025 Gold Cup, there are playoffs for the qualifiers of the 2027 Asian Cup while South America and Oceania are playing 2026 World Cup qualifiers
Rodriguez watched Argentina beat Chile 3-0
So precious...
Scamacca wasn't in the Italian squad, suffered an ACL injury in a friendly against Parma at the beginning of August
Antonio played a full 90 minutes against Cuba in Kingston. It ended a 0-0 draw despite Jamaica having 73% possesssion, 21 shots to Cuba's 4 and Cuba playing the second half with 10 men
Paqueta played 78 minutes and provided the assist in Brazil's 1-0 home win over Ecuador
Lee Carsley (40 caps for Ireland) won’t sing the national anthem and had been approached by the Irish FA to become their manager
Harry Kane says that Declan Rice and Jack Grealish might get a hostile reception (Grealish was an Irish U21 before he switched to England)
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/sep/06/lee-carsley-will-not-sing-englands-national-anthem-before-first-game
It’s such a non-story
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c17gj5e1krdo
I imagine the poppy warriors are getting warmed up on the sink social media sites.
On a purely personal level I would eye any player belting out the anthem at the top of his voice with a bit more instinctive judgment than someone like Carsley keeping himself to himself on such matters.
Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Maguire, Guehi, Colwill, Mainoo, Rice, Gordon, Grealish, Saka, Kane.
"Brazil now have ten points from seven quailifying matches played, and sit fourth in the ten-team table. The top six teams after 18 matches will directly earn their place in the 2026 finals, to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while the seventh side will enter a play-off."
Really seems an unnecessary amount of games, much easier to have 2 groups of 5 which is just 8 games instead of 18. Also, 6 guaranteed places and a play off for a 7th is a very generous allocation for 10 countries, I blame Infantino (as I always do when given half a chance) for expanding the World Cup when there's really no need. 32 teams and 8 groups of 4 is more than big enough imo with the top 2 qualifying keeping an amount of jeopardy in the group stages that won't be there when most of the 3rd placed teams will advance anyway.
Gordon shoulda done when he was through on the keeper, then Kane's effort was blocked, before Rice slotted the rebound.