Fans of international football are gearing up for two weeks of action both in friendlies and the UEFA Nations League. Those of us who don’t enjoy the need for these international breaks, however, will be left feeling a little bit bored given the distinct lack of football that’ll be available to us from a domestic standpoint. Of course, this isn’t anything new, and fans have had to deal with international breaks for years upon years now – and with that in mind you’d think that they would’ve gotten used to them. Alas, unfortunately, that hasn’t proven to be the case.

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when you’re talking about the international break, and of course, they aren’t all relevant to every individual team. For example: third and fourth tier clubs often never have anything to worry about, purely because most of their players don’t play at an international level. That isn’t us being harsh, either, that’s just the truth of the matter. Even so, though, they tend to get involved with the moaning all the same, because it never appears to decrease the intensity of their schedule despite logic suggesting that it should.

One thing that we always find quite interesting when it comes to the analysis of this is how it impacts managers. We all know that there are risks associated with going out on international duty, and nobody is trying to hide that, but some gaffers are very specific regarding their demands when communicating with their international equivalents. For example, some will suggest that a given player should only compete in a friendly or Nations League game for 45 minutes, and those kinds of requests aren’t always honoured in the way that you’d expect.

But as we all know there are different priorities between the international game and the domestic game, mainly because of how much build up is associated with the bigger tournaments. Copa America, AFCON, Euros, World Cup. Those are the four major international tournaments and, respectively, they only come around every so often. So while we may get told that these friendlies are great for building cohesion amongst some of the squads, it’s hard to believe they’re equally as important as some of the big domestic encounters that we’ve had the chance to witness both this season and in the past.

But then, if we’re coming back to how the fans feel about it all in comparison to the managers, we find the main problem: we are all casual fans when it comes to international football. The tournaments themselves are great fun and getting caught up in the excitement of it all is a big part of that, but it’s also very fleeting. For one summer every two years or so, the unity of a nation is able to shine through as they try and cheer their team on towards glory. For the remainder of those two years, however, we’re back to square one as the tedious qualification period begins.

That’s not necessarily anyone’s fault and it’d be difficult to change the structure at this point, because in terms of dividing it up throughout the year, it seems to work pretty well. Still, some fans refuse to accept that they aren’t able to head down to the game every week, despite the fact that it opens up the door for so many other possibilities. They could take the time to chill out with their family and/or friends in a different environment at the weekend, which is something that we all need to do in order to recharge because this game can easily take it out of us.

Or, alternatively, perhaps they should try out some non-league football. We know that it isn’t the most exciting of products in the world to sample but that shouldn’t even really be a factor in any of this. If you’re that desperate to ‘stick it to the man’ and ignore everything that international football stands for, then this should be a great replacement, right? If you don’t want to do that, then perhaps you should consider avoiding this whole ‘moaning’ act and wait patiently for top flight football to return.

This has been pretty long winded, but we just wanted to try and unpack the stigma behind this international football hatred. Don’t get us wrong, we can completely understand where the core tension comes from, but international football serves as the pinnacle of our game regardless of what any fan tries to tell you. Sure, they’d like to see their club win a major trophy at some point during their lifetime, but it doesn’t even compare to the pride you feel upon seeing your home country lifting eiher a continental or world title up high. It’s magical stuff.

UEFA Euro 2020 Betting Prediction

With Euro 2020 being less than two years away, it feels as if many fans have already forgotten that the French walked away from Russia as the world champions, despite it only happening a few short months ago. Les Bleus have got to be considered the favourites to continue this forward momentum, into a tournament that will be played across the continent. Still, there are several factors to consider when discussing who could reach the mountaintop, and fans shouldn’t underestimate the power of doing poorly at one tournament before bouncing back at the next one.

With that in mind it seems downright foolish to rule out the likes of Germany and Spain, who will likely both be seen as favourites even though they don’t deserve it (at least, at this point in time they don’t). From a selfish perspective, it’d be nice to see England lift their first piece of silverware since the 1966 World Cup, but it feels like their poor end to the tournament was a sign that the Gareth Southgate project is already kind of running out of steam. Obviously we hope that isn’t the case, because when the English are playing well it’s great for the sport, but it’s worth noting.

Anyway, this has all been a roundabout way of saying this: the strength in depth in that France squad is utterly ridiculous, and the only way in which they don’t win Euro 2020 is either their own complacency or a sea of big injuries. Sure, two years is a long time and a lot of things could obviously change, but class is permanent – especially when you’re talking about Les Bleus. They know what it feels like to go all the way and while the same can be said of Spain, Germany, Portugal and a handful of others, the two situations are pretty incomparable.

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