The lost joy of international football

England fans might sympathise with Tom Cleverley’s mood at the prospect of another international break, but Thomas Seear disagrees (Image | Daily Star)

It’s that time of the season again – the international break and all around us there are sighs of disinterest …

A fellow scribe here at The Armchair Pundits, James Rabey, wrote recently on the dire need to change international football; indeed the press is awash with disinterest and boredom at the prospect of the internationals with the popular Guardian podcast, Football Weekly, and The Times’ equivalent, The Game, both culprits.

However, I intent to convince you that the internationals are full of joyous entertainment and drama, the problem, is that such entertainment rarely lies with our home nations.

Why international football needs a serious redesign

The England team’s comfortable dispatching of San Marino on Friday night did little for the argument that minnows deserve to be in the main stage of European qualifying (Image | bettor.com)

Upon reading the title of this post, you may think that I’m going to talk about a certain Michel Platini’s comments regarding his desire to see the 2022 World Cup played in winter.

Platini, though, isn’t my target. I am going to discuss the fact that international football is becoming increasingly meaningless.

My dad reminds me that whenever an England squad is announced that not so long ago, a player had to be among the select group of best players in England’s top flight to be called up to the national team. And although he does not necessarily disagree with giving young players a chance to show their worth in friendlies, he, like me, believes that international football needs a major reshuffle.