This month’s international break has now run past its halfway point, meaning every side has now played at least one of their scheduled matches during this period.
While some will be pleased with their results in the warm-ups for their respective upcoming tournaments in the summer, others have failed to impress in their opening game of this break.
Therefore, these upcoming matches serve as a chance for some of the top sides to give other players in the squad the chance to impress and force their way into the thinking ahead of the summer, while it also allows teams to figure out any potential problems that need addressing before the tournaments.
With this, we’ve picked out our top four talking points ahead of Tuesday’s international football fixtures:
England and Belgium failed to impress
England and Belgium have been two of the best national sides across the globe in recent years, and they come into this game against each other as the third and fourth-best sides in FIFA’s rankings. However, neither side was able to impress in their first games of this international break.
England fell to a 1-0 defeat to a Brazil side that had failed to win in four straight games and had a hugely weaker side than normal with 12 regulars missing due to injury. Belgium’s match ended in a 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland in a game where the opposition had more chances than the talented Belgium squad.
Both sides will now be coming into this one hoping to return to form and produce a much better performance than last time out.
Confidence high for Germany and Netherlands
Germany and the Netherlands had vastly different starts to the two previously mentioned nations, recording huge victories in their opening games.
Germany, who had been on a run of two wins in 10 games prior to their last outing, managed to beat France 2-0 thanks to a first-minute goal from Florian Wirtz with Kai Havertz finishing off the second. The Netherlands also won their game as they battered Scotland 4-0 and produced a highly dominant performance to extend their winning run to four straight games.
France look to bounce back from defeat
As previously mentioned, France fell to defeat for the second time since their crushing penalty loss in the FIFA World Cup final against Argentina in 2022, with both of these losses coming against Germany.
France were uncharacteristically poor in possession as Germany held more of the ball throughout the game, leaving the home side with just two shots on target in the 90 minutes.
This performance will leave them hungry for revenge in their next game against Chile as they look to bounce back to winning ways ahead of the upcoming Euro tournament where they are favourites to go all the way.
Dorival Junior to extend winning start with Brazil?
Dorival Junior had the tough task of leading his injury-ridden Brazil squad into a game against England at Wembley Stadium, where the Three Lions are always so hard to beat.
With 12 regulars out due to injury the manager was forced into lining up with a much weaker side, resulting in Junior handing out five debuts in the starting XI. This included goalkeeper Bento and three of the defensive line, with Wolves’ Joao Gomes also appearing for the first time.
Despite this, Brazil looked positive throughout the game and were able to prevent England from having many dangerous attempts on their own goal. Brazil eventually found the breakthrough as 17-year-old sensation Endrick scored the only goal of the game, becoming the youngest player to score in a senior game at Wembley Stadium.
Dorival Junior will now be looking to extend this winning start with his national team in another tough game against Jose Luis De La Fuente’s Spain team.
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