PARIS —
A hectic schedule of club football ahead of the
World Cup is interrupted this
week as national teams get a last chance to fine-tune their preparations before
traveling to Qatar for the start of the tournament on November 20.
اضافة اعلان
Holding the
World Cup in the middle of the European season is having major consequences for
clubs but also for coaches of national teams.
While domestic
competitions bear the brunt of the upheaval to the calendar as they are forced
to halt a week before the opening game in Qatar, that also means there will be
next to no time for squads to work together before beginning their World Cup
campaigns.
Extra importance
is therefore placed on events over the next week, as European sides complete
the
UEFA Nations League group stage while other contenders play friendly
matches, including back-to-back games for Brazil on French soil against Ghana
and Tunisia.
French concerns
Reigning world champions France are preparing to defend the crown they
won in Russia in 2018 while simultaneously trying to avoid being relegated from
the top tier of the Nations League.
Les Bleus, who
won the Nations League last year, host Austria on Thursday and visit Denmark on
Sunday needing to win both games to be sure of remaining in League A.
But France coach
Didier Deschamps has numerous issues, not least injuries to key players
including
Paul Pogba — he is recovering from a knee operation which has left
him facing a race against time to be fit for Qatar.
“He will do
everything to try to be fit as quickly as possible, despite the lack of time,”
Deschamps told broadcaster TF1 on Sunday.
It is also too
early to say if a dispute between Kylian Mbappe and the French Football
Federation over image rights could impact squad morale, with the Paris Saint-Germain
star refusing to take part in a photo shoot on Monday.
France’s latest
squad features several new faces who are hoping to seize their chance to
impress before final lists must be submitted to FIFA by November 13.
Toney gets England
chance
England manager Gareth Southgate has handed an opportunity to Brentford
forward Ivan Toney as the Euro 2020 runners-up play Italy and Germany in
Nations League A3.
Like France,
England suffered a series of poor results in June and so realistically need to
win both of these games to avoid relegation to League B.
But Southgate
will run the rule over an expanded 28-man squad with Qatar in mind.
“Part of the
rationale is that we are very close to a World Cup and we feel, although our
results were disappointing in the summer, we have picked on the basis of form
and capability over a long period,” Southgate said last week.
Spain and
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will warm up for the World Cup by meeting in Braga
on September 27 in a game that could decide which of the Iberian neighbors
advances to the Nations League finals next June.
Meanwhile, fresh
from signing a new four-year deal, Wales manager Robert Page has named Los
Angeles FC’s Gareth Bale in his squad for games against Belgium and Poland.
Wales look set to be relegated
from their Nations League group too, but that is not something that will
concern them too much before they return to the World Cup stage for the first
time since 1958.
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