It would be easy to think of the international break as a barren wasteland, a time to ignore football and enjoy other pursuits.
But that would be wrong. What are you going to do? See a film at the cinema? Take a walk? Talk to your loved ones? Pffft. Forget all of that, sounds awful. There is still joy to be had in the international break, stories both big and small, high profile and largely ignored, thrilling and unusual.
Here are a few things to keep an eye on in this international break…
Pochettino takes charge of his first USMNT game
It was one of the most eye-catching international coaching appointments in recent years, but Mauricio Pochettino taking over the USMNT job is a gamble for both parties.
For the U.S., this is a Hail Mary, a big splash attempt to prepare the team to host the World Cup in 2026, after the embarrassing performance on home soil at the Copa America. For any host nation to be eliminated at the group stage is bad, but for the U.S. to shuffle out so meekly from the Copa was particularly chastening.
The former Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea head coach represents a significant show of ambition, not least in his reported $6million salary, but if he fails then U.S. Soccer will face accusations it has wasted money in pursuit of a big name.
For Pochettino, it was an interesting move considering his reputation in the club game didn’t feel like it was badly harmed by his time at Chelsea. The chaos that has engulfed the club for years tends to shield most coaches from significant blame when things go awry, plus he managed to get a tune out of the side by the time he left. Had he wanted to, he could have waited for another club gig.
But the challenge of making sense of the USMNT after Gregg Berhalter’s time ended was enough of a temptation. It feels appropriate that, even though the game is a friendly, his first fixture will be against Panama, whose win over the U.S. in the second group game at the Copa America was the first sign that things could be going south.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how things pan out over the next couple of years.
Brazil try to recover their form
It’s impossible to imagine a World Cup without Brazil. They’ve qualified for every tournament and have only failed to get past the first round on two occasions: in the inaugural competition in 1930 and in 1966. But could they miss out for the first time in 2026?
Well, no, almost certainly not. The South American qualifiers are organised so it is virtually impossible for the big sides not to make it through. There are 10 participants, and the expanded format means six qualify automatically and the seventh goes through to a playoff.
Still, this has been a near-catastrophic qualification period for Brazil. It started with Ramon Menezes and then Fernando Diniz appointed as stopgaps, as they waited for Carlo Ancelotti to take over in the summer of 2024.
But Ancelotti signed a new contract at Real Madrid, the Diniz experiment failed and Dorival Junior came in. They started the qualifiers with two wins, before things started to unravel: they have lost four of their last five qualifiers and are fifth as world and South American champions Argentina sit loftily atop the standings. Throw in a limp Copa America exit and things aren’t too rosy.
In theory, they couldn’t ask for more accommodating fixtures in this round: they play Chile (second bottom) then Peru (bottom), but anything less than two wins and the panic button will be mashed even more than it is at the moment.
Has an old rivalry been devalued by its frequency?
We would not dream of suggesting the English are a little self-important when it comes to international football, but if you did want to make that argument then you would probably point to the ranking of European rivalries as exhibit A.
England regard their biggest rivals as Germany, and there’s a natural assumption that the feeling is mutual. But the one Germany really cares about is the Netherlands, a fierce conflict that first properly came into being at the 1974 World Cup final. The Dutch lost against West Germany and the footballing trauma lasted for years, only lifted via revenge in the semi-final of Euro ’88.
The pity is that this game happens so often now. The two were drawn together in both the first Nations League in 2018-19, and the qualifiers for Euro 2020. Then there were friendlies in 2022 and 2024, before they were paired together in this Nations League, the first game ending in a 2-2 draw in September.
On Monday they face each other again: this will be the eighth encounter in a little under six years, which given it will only be the 48th encounter ever, suggests the law of diminishing returns could dull the spite that made this rivalry so fierce.
Still, it’s by some way the highest-profile fixture in this round of European fixtures, and it will be fascinating to see how Germany fare in this transitional era, after the retirements of Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Ilkay Gundogan and (for a second time) Toni Kroos.
How will France cope without Griezmann?
Speaking of international retirements, the football world was surprised recently when Antoine Griezmann announced the end of his France career, slightly out of the blue.
Griezmann went on an unbroken run of 84 consecutive games for France, stretching from 2017 to 2024, and he has been the main on-pitch constant throughout a golden era of French football, which included two finals and one World Cup victory.
In theory, France have more than enough talent to fill the void. The squad named by Didier Deschamps for the games against Israel and Belgium features the next generation, like Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise. But there’s nobody quite like Grizou, a midfielder-attacker hybrid who has knitted the team together.
How France will cope tactically will take a while to iron out, but emotionally it will be fascinating to see how they adapt without Griezmann. With Kylian Mbappe injured, Olivier Giroud having also retired and N’Golo Kante left out, for the first time there are no survivors from the victorious 2018 World Cup final in Deschamps’s squad.
Revenge in the air for the longest losing streak
It had been 20 years coming. San Marino’s first competitive victory and their first in an official game since 2004 came in the last international break, when a goal by 19-year-old Nicko Sensoli was enough for a 1-0 win over Liechtenstein.
Alas, it wasn’t enough to lift San Marino from the bottom of the FIFA rankings: they are still 210th from 210, but it does at least remove the significant monkey from their back, and also passed on the title of the team with the longest winless run in international football, like some sort of boxing world championship belt that nobody wants, to… Liechtenstein.
Their stretch of failure only goes back four years, but it was 40 games ago that they beat Luxembourg in a friendly in October 2020, which was their second win on the bounce, having won 2-0 against San Marino a month earlier.
One of the Nations League’s benefits is that teams of this stature play each other more frequently in a competitive environment, rather than lining up to get hosed by whichever big/medium-sized European side they are drawn against. As such, Liechtenstein have the chance to quickly rid themselves of this new unwanted record, as they face Gibraltar (ranked 198th) on Monday.
Ideally, Liechtenstein might want to save their victory for the return against San Marino in November, so as to enact sweet, sweet revenge. But this is the sort of stink you want to remove from yourself as quickly as possible.
A good news story for a country in strife
Jordan shares a border with Israel and the West Bank so it has inevitably been impacted by the war in Gaza. Many in Jordan, including members of the royal family, have relatives in Palestine, its air space was closed last week when ballistic missiles were intercepted over Amman and the nation’s tourist industry has been badly affected.
In these circumstances, football is not important. But it can offer a degree of normality and an element of joy in an otherwise grim situation.
Happily, the Jordanian national team are providing plenty of joy. Following their remarkable run to the final of the Asian Cup earlier this year, where they were beaten by hosts Qatar, they are performing brilliantly in the World Cup qualifiers.
The AFC qualifying process is rather labyrinthine, but in the second round Jordan finished top of their four-team group, and in the third round they sit top of their six-team group, the top two of which earn a direct place at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Jordan have never qualified for a World Cup and this round of fixtures sees the big one: they play South Korea, among the strongest sides in the confederation. A win would put them well on their way to their first finals, the significance of which reaches far, far beyond football.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
