With just over three months passed since Lionel Messi’s Argentina lifted the World Cup title, international soccer is back.
Euro qualification kicked off earlier this week with teams eyeing a spot in the 2024 championships. Alongside Euro Qualification the CONCACAF Nations League has also returned.
One of the games to kick off this year’s qualifying run was a matchup of the last tournament’s final. Italy and England met in the 2020(delayed until 2021) Euro final, with Italy winning on penalties. Since then England made a run to the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals, whereas Italy failed to qualify for the tournament in Qatar.
This was Italy’s first competitive game since missing the World Cup and they came up just short. Harry Kane became England’s all-time topscorer as England got some revenge, winning 2-1.
Italy did however produce a new name to watch, with 23-year-old Mateo Retugui starting and scoring their only goal of the game. This was Retugui’s first cap for Italy, having been born in Argentina where he plays his club soccer.
This win sets England up nicely for their qualifying run, with Italy the other big team in their group. They still have seven qualifiers to play, but this is a big early win for England, and another hurdle for Italy to overcome.
World Cup runners-up France took on the Netherlands, with Kylian Mbappe captaining ‘Les Bleus’.
A pre-match ceremony saw France honor players who recently retired from the national team, namely Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane, and Karim Benzema. For the Netherlands Jasper Cillessen took back the #1 spot after Andries Noppert played at the World Cup.
What seemed like it should’ve been a more even match before kickoff, France went on to demolish the Netherlands 4-0. Antoine Griezmann and Dayot Upamecano made it 1-0 and 2-0 in the opening ten minutes. The captain’s armband seemed to suit Mbappe as he would add another two goals, in the 21st and 88th.
World Cup winner Argentina defended their crown for the first time in a friendly at home to Panama. The emotions were high before kick-off as the Argentine fans welcomed the World Champions home, and the atmosphere only got more intense from there.
Seemingly no friendly in South America is truly a ‘friendly’, and from kickoff Panama was sending player after player toward Lionel Messi in an attempt to cut him out of the game.
Their efforts weren’t quite enough, as Thiago Almada scored in the 78th minute, and Messi capped the night off with his 800th goal for club and country.
The CONCACAF Nations League resumed this week as well, with the United States taking on Grenada as their first competitive opponent since the World Cup. In the months following Qatar, US Soccer has been caught up in a coaching crisis and are currently under the reigns of Anthony Hudson
Despite all the controversy, Gio Reyna started for the USA, and they did not hold back on Grenada, winning 7-1. Christian Pulisic had 2 assists and a goal, while Ricardo Pepi(who was omitted from the World Cup squad) also scored 2 goals.
Germany and Belgium both had World Cups to forget and now is the time to truly put that tournament in the past and work forward to new glory.
Belgium is without their captain Eden Hazard who retired from the national team following their World Cup exit and prepare for their first game under new coach Domenic Todesco.
Both countries have a lot to prove, so even though this game is a friend there is still much to play for.
While not as big of a heavyweight matchup, Portugal’s first qualifying game meant new records to break for Cristiano Ronaldo. It was also an easy test for new coach Roberto Martinez after his switch from Belgium following the World Cup.
On Wednesday he became the all-time leader for international appearances, as well as becoming the first men’s player to score 100 competitive international goals. With his two goals, he has now also scored in 20 consecutive years for the Portuguese National team.
With more games to play and another break on the horizon, international soccer is back.
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