The September international break is normally relatively relaxed — a chance to tweak tactics and focus on formations.
It’s not this time. This is the final set international fixtures before the Olympics for nearly all 32 countries. World CupIn QatarOn November 20,
So that you can go into the break feeling prepared, The Athletic has identified one issue every team need to try to fix this break…
Group A
Qatar
The biggest issue is finding the right form
This window provides the litmus test for Qatar’s training camp. The national team pulled six months of players from Qatari Stars League teams to a training camp, similar to South Korea’s 2002 co-hosting finals. This means that no one has played competitive football since March. Instead, they’ve played 12 friendlies.
After losing 1-0 to Linfield from Northern Ireland, the camp moved to Marbella. Austria, was most recently defeated 3-0 by Croatia’s under-23s.
Fixtures: CanadaChile (September 27) and Chile (23/23).*All dates based on GMT
Fallout from the Byron Castillo scandal: The biggest problem
When FIFADeleted
