‘Interdull’ really that boring?

[1]

The world and European champions will face France on October 16.

It’s that time of the year again. The time almost every football fan dreads — the international break. The two weeks where club football comes to a halt, and players report for international duty, to represent their countries in either friendlies or qualifiers for the World or continental cups.

These two weeks are tough on fans for two reasons — first, because it takes away the excitement of league football for a complete weekend and second, because it’s one of the easiest way for players to pick up irritating injuries.
This, however, is part and parcel of a fan’s life, and we just have to take it in our stride.
The other issue which a lot of fans have, is that most of these matches are really one-sided. Uefa, for some reason thinks it would be fun to pit the big boys against the minnows.
England, for example, take on lowly San Marino. A country which has won just one competitive match in it’s footballing history. The same country who lost 0-11 to the Netherlands not long ago.
The match will have added significance to Wayne Rooney as he has been selected to lead England in this game due to injuries and suspensions to Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard respectively.
The game will, in all practical purposes be just a formality for England. A rare chance for their supporters to see them score numerous goals.
Unless the football Gods are in an extremely funny mood, one can not see any other result than an English victory.
Meanwhile, Asia’s best team, Japan, have two exciting encounters lined up.
They travel to France to take on Les Bleus in a friendly before hosting Brazil.
If the Japanese can come through these fixtures unbeaten, it will be a real confidence boost for them, heading into the next round of qualifiers.
The biggest match, perhaps of this international break is the friendly between Spain and France, on the 16th of the month.
The match promises to be an exciting contest between the best team in the world and the former champions desperate to regain their past glory .
The interlull is usually a drab affair for most fans.
However, like in David and Goliath’s story, if one of the minnows packs a punch and beats a giant, it’ll be a week we’ll dread missing.