Quite the maelstrom of international football tonight, with off-pitch drama circling many of the players involved (and one who is not).
You have to feel for new Portugal manager Jorge Jesus, a 72-year-old who knows more than most that time waits for no man, but has apparently had a hard time explaining to Cristiano Ronaldo that at the age of 41 and woefully out of form, he cannot expect to start every single game for one of the best international teams in the world.
Jesus has – at least publicly – been respectful to Ronaldo, starting him in the win over Wales and “resting” the veteran in the impressive 2-1 victory over Norway – Ronnie’s replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, scored the winner for Portugal. If that justified Jesus’ decision in many people’s eyes, it certainly didn’t go down with Ronaldo, who has now left the Portugal camp in a huff private jet (and which presumably suits Jesus just fine).
Now former Portugal manager Roberto Martínez made the mistake of staying blindly loyal to Ronaldo, keeping his captain on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in all but one of the five matches at the World Cup, and paid the price in losing his job to Jesus. Save for a couple of goals over World Cup minnows Uzbekistan – Ronaldo has only managed one goal (a penalty) and received one red card in the eight games since last November. Even if he was involved tonight against a very strong Denmark team, it is likely he would not get any closer to his 1,000 goal target. However, if Portugal lose to the Danes, the noise clamouring for Ronaldo’s return will be deafening.
Elsewhere, as the talisman of beleaguered Manchester City, all eyes will be on Erling Haaland to see if his club’s crisis is affecting his football. Wales v Norway is an intriguing game for a number of reasons, but one that Craig Bellamy could really do with winning – Wales are without a victory in nearly a year.
Jürgen Klopp’s tenure as Germany manager has gotten off to a rocky-ish start with a draw and Sunday’s home loss to Greece. The former Liverpool boss will hope for better against Serbia tonight but regrettably, it’s off-field issues that have dominated the headlines. Honestly, what is wrong with people?
Sandwiched between two controversial games against Israel, the Republic of Ireland face Austria in Dublin this evening. The 3-0 win over Israel last Sunday, went ahead after a majority of their squad voted to play on the eve of the away fixture in Hungary. Media reports indicated that the squad was fractured after the meeting and vote, and that goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had been insulted by teammates over his decision to withdraw “as a person or principle”. The goalkeeper is available for tonight, but will not take part on Sunday in the rematch with Israel, which the Football Association of Ireland has moved to Serbia behind closed doors.
So, that’s the background – some of it important, some of it less so – to at least some of tonight’s games. Let’s see if we can enjoy the footy. Seven games in total. I’ll do my best to keep abreast of all of them, but only have two eyes and two hands to type with.
Wales v Norway Denmark v Portugal Germany v Serbia Republic of Ireland v Austria Greece v Netherlands Israel v Kosovo Malta v Gibraltar
Kick-offs: 7.45pm BST
