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Phew! What an international break this was, eh?
All the usual suspects were in the news – Neymar, Ronaldo and Messi stealing the limelight, while Lukas Podolski got possible the greatest farewell party of all time. Clint Dempsey scored for the United States, and Sunil Chhetri scored for India, as both intrepid forwards continue to remain in the top 5 international goalscorers (currently active).
The Netherlands showed us all just how depressingly poor they’ve become with back-to-back losses while France, Spain and Italy all threw out markers to the rest of the world warning them that they are all going to take some beating in the World Cup proper.
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To read more about the underperformers this week, trot on over to the ever reliable Rohith Nair’s 5 big teams in danger of missing out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but once you are done there come back right here and have a peek at the main talking points from what was a rather good international break:
1. England’s meritocracy is the right way forward
All of England’s recent tournaments have been blighted by stunted managerial strategy and a selection strategy that is more snobbishly aristocratic than the Prince of Wales. Gareth Southgate, though, has bucked the trend and Michael Keane, Jake Livermore and Jermaine Defoe are among those who’ll thank him the most.
He’s picked out players from teams regardless of where they are on the table, and he’s been brave enough to field a back three when he felt the need was there. The decision to exclude Wayne Rooney was an obvious, yet brave call and England look much the more dynamic in attack for it.
Sure, England are far from a finished product, but they are most certainly on the right path. They are an exciting attacking unit, with a bunch of youngsters all capable of producing a game-changing moment of skill, and if Southgate can get his defence organised with some semblance of cohesion, they can take a lot of people by surprise
2. No Messi, No Party
Was there a bigger Talking Point than Lionel Messi getting banned for 4 matches on the eve of one of Argentina’s toughest WC qualifiers? Yes, Yes, it’s only Bolivia, and they are not much by the way of opposition away from home, but at home, in that rarified air you can find only 4+ kilometres above sea level, they are one of world football’s toughest tests.
Four days previously, Messi had been the be-all and end-all of a dour Argentina victory over an even dourer Chile, and Argentina sorely missed their talisman in Bolivia, as they slipped from 3rd to 5th in the South American qualifiers. Just to drive home the point, this is what Argentina’s record looks like with and without Messi.
With Messi: Played 6 Games; Won 5, Lost 1, Scored 9 goals and conceded 4 (15 points out of 18)
Without Messi: Played 8 Games; Won 1, Lost 3, Drew 4, Scored 6 goals and conceded 10 (7 points out of 24)
Quite frankly it’s ludicrous that Edgardo Bauza cannot eke out any results from a bunch quite as talented as this. And he has three more matches (out of four remaining qualifiers) to manoeuvre without the services of Leo Messi. This is looking increasing depressing from an Argentine point of view.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo unstoppable in his inexorable march through the record books
What a phenomenon Cristiano Ronaldo is. He followed up a brilliant brace in the crucial World Cup qualifier against Hungary by scoring in the first international he's played in his hometown of Madeira. That last goal has now taken him to 71 international goals – that’s put him at tenth in the all-time list, and joint third in Europe (with Miroslav Klose). He is also, by a country mile, the leading international goalscorer in the world right now (active).
Here's the full list –
| Rank | Player | Country | Goals |
| 1 | Ali Daei | Iran | 109 |
| 2 | Ferenc Puskas | Hungary | 84 |
| 3 | Kunishige Kamamoto | Japan | 80 |
| 4 | Hussein Saeed | Iraq | 78 |
| 5 | Pele | Brazil | 77 |
| 6 | Godfrey Chitalu | Zambia | 76 |
| 7 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 75 |
| 8 | Bashar Abdullah | Kuwait | 75 |
| 9 | Majeed Abdullah | Saudi Arabia | 71 |
| Kiatsuk Senamuang | Thailand | 71 | |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 71 | |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 71* |
Despite his recent struggles in the pristine white of Real Madrid, he was back to his blistering best for his nation – the goals against Hungary were simply sublime, especially that left hammer of a shot that opened his account (around 4:10 in the video below)
Oh, and he had an airport named after him... Of course, he did.
4. Neymar is the best player in the world
Wait, wait. Don’t through your device out the window just yet. Hear, erm.. read me out. I mean he is the best player in the world when it comes to playing internationals.
Nobody, and I mean, nobody, revels in the pressure of wearing their national colours quite like Neymar. Forget the on-one-day, off-the-other Neymar we see at Barcelona... when he wears the canary yellow of Brazil he is nigh unstoppable.
In this break, as is his wont, he stepped up a couple of gears as he absolutely annihilated both Uruguay and Paraguay (both notoriously tight defensively) and inspired Brazil to become the FIRST team to qualify for Russia ‘18.
It’s a magnificent achievement by player and team in what has proved to be a treacherously tough qualifying campaign in South America. Watch out World, Neymar’s Brazil are certainly the team to beat in Russia.
Oh, and a word of appreciation for Tite. He’s taken a team that had been stuck in the doldrums for a long while, ripped away the dead wood, selected personnel purely on the basis of merit and current form, and has thus created a brilliant team that is capable defensively and is irresistible moving forward in attack.
Take a bow, senor.
5. Egypt could be flying the African flag high in Russia 2018
Egypt really ought to have won the Africa Cup of Nations, oughtn’t they? They were the most defensively solid side in the team by a mile – but were undid in the final by a combination of Hector Cuper’s natural tendency to go over-defensive and the sheer verve of a 'we’ve-got-nothing-to-lose' Cameroon side.
Thing is, if they had not retreated into the shell, they would have walked away with it - and as they've shown over the past week they are utterly irresistible when they move forward consistently.
In Mohammed Salah and Mohammed Elneny, they have two of the continent’s best players – and they are part of a formidable unit that can well be the best hope for the African contingent in the colds of Russia.
A surprise contender meanwhile could well be Nigeria. Having missed out on the AFCON party earlier this year, they’ve buckled down and Gernot Rohr’s men are now a young side bristling with talent throughout – none more exciting than the attacking trio Kelechi Iheanacho, Alex Iwobi and Ahmed Musa – and given time they could well merge into an outfit that would do their ‘94 edition side proud (spearheaded, of course, by Iwobi’s uncle, Jay Jay Okocha).
