Mitch Freeley 

The latest round of International friendlies threw up a few interesting talking points with just 76 days to the World Cup kicking off in Russia. We round up the moments that matter for the top sides, and how they are shaping up heading into the World Cup. 

Tite whipping Brazil into shape

Brazil arrested the ghost of that 7-1 defeat to Germany with a narrow 1-0 win over Die Mannschaft at the Olympiastadion on Tuesday evening. The victory for the Seleção halted Germany’s 22-game undefeated streak, and could prove to be an important psychological win should the two sides face-off in the latter stages of the World Cup. 

Much of the credit has to go to head coach Tite, who has carefully kept the balance of his squad over the games against Germany & Russia. In midfield, the former Corinthians boss has elected for stability with the likes of Casemero, Paulinho, and Fernandinho all getting game time. 

Whilst in the attack,an in-form Willian, Philipe Coutinho & Gabriel Jesus all provided the attacking flair whilst tracking back and contributing in defence. All of this was achieved with Neymar on the sidelines, if Tite can perfect his team selection and manage expectations, then Brazil could well lift their sixth World Cup come the middle of July. 

It’s not looking too good for Russia

One side who had an international break to forget is 2018 hosts Russia. Stanislav Cherchesov’s side had two glamour friendlies against Brazil & France and ended up losing 3-0 & 3-1 respectively.

In fairness to Cherchesov, he did make four changes to the side that lost comprehensively to Brazil. However vital changes in goal and central defence proved to be their undoing, coupled by playing a three-man defence against a French attack who like to work well on the wings. 

It means that Russia now has not won in their last five friendly outings. They will be hoping for morale-boosting results against Austria & Turkey in their final round of friendlies before the World Cup. 

Iniesta impresses

Germany taking on Spain was comfortably the most engrossing game of the friendly fortnight. For sixty minutes both sides went at each other, in a breathtaking display of football. Iniesta particularly rolled back the years, putting in an eye-catching performance against the World Champions. 

A fine assist in just the fifth minute of the tie for Rodrigo set the tempo, and the 33-year old went on to be pivotal for La Roja in midfield against the Germans. Russia 2018 certainly looks like it will be Iniesta’s last, but providing the veteran midfielder can stay fit the Barca man could be decisive in Spain clinching their second World Cup. 

Sampaoli needs time on the training pitch with La Albiceleste

Argentina has had a mixed bag of an international break. Firstly a comfortable 2-0 win over Italy over in Manchester highlighted that Argentina has plenty of attacking depth with Manuel Lanzini impressing on the right wing. However, a 6-1 defeat to Spain, will not be of comfort to Argentina fans, who are dreaming of captain Leo Messi lifting the World Cup come the end of the tournament. 

One crumb of comfort for the fans will be that La Albiceleste were without the likes of Messi, Dybala, Di Maria and Sergio Agüero for the match in Madrid, and that barring injury will be with the squad in Russia. Although, as Sampaoli admitted post-match that much has to be done with his side. "Spain have slapped us, we have to keep working.”

Interestingly, prior to the international break, Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli had insisted that he would have preferred more training sessions with his squad than the friendly matches, as he tactically tries to get the best out of squad who an undeniably talented group.

 
You can make the case that Sampaoli is one of the best coaches at this year’s World Cup, with his winning football with Chile & Sevilla testament to his abilities. There certainly won’t be any shortage of top European clubs interested in his signature should Sampouli leave. Hopefully, the Argentine FA will listen to their manager and ensure that the Argentina squad get plenty of training time to ensure La Albiceleste are in the best shape for Russia. 

St Georges Park working for England

England can be buoyed by their friendly results against Holland & Italy. Gareth Southgate's side looked composed and dominated the ball in their 1-0 away victory in Amsterdam. Whilst a VAR decision gave Italy a 1-1 draw to cancel out Jamie Vardy’s stunning opener on Tuesday evening. 

The pair of games gave Southgate plenty of opportunities to experiment, by playing Kyle Walker at centre back and giving debuts to Lewis Cook and James Tarkowski which gave Southgate plenty of food for thought. The group of players certainly seemed relaxed and certainly seem to be playing the way Southgate wants them to play, keeping possession well and controlling the tempo of the contest. 

Central to the playing style taken on by England has been St Georges Park. Inaugurated in 2012, it has been the base of the national team and the U-21, U-20, U-19 and U-17 age groups. This integrated approach to training has certainly borne fruit already with only last summer the U-19 winning the European Championships whilst the U-17 went one better to win the World Cup. 

Crucially the likes of Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford & Harry Kane have all come through the system at St Georges Park, and coupled by the promotion of Southgate from U21 suggests that England have a good group of technical players who have played together at youth level. Providing Southgate can manage expectation, England could be dark horses in Russia.