FIFA’S decision to put a 10-day break into the footballing calendar made no sense to me
There’s something I need to get off my chest.
I wasn’t happy with FIFA last week for putting a 10-day break in the football calendar for international friendly matches. For me, it made no sense.
It interrupted the flow of the league campaigns in the UK and, when we are at the business end of the season, we don’t want that.
We want to see momentum and players going for glory for their clubs, whether it’s to win silverware, clinch a place in Europe or avoid relegation.
It’s the same for supporters. They are in a rhythm and they will have felt as though their week-to-week routine was gatecrashed at such a pivotal time.
For what it’s worth, I think FIFA should have allowed March and April to be for club football. That would have allowed the domestic season to finish a week to 10 days earlier.
That, in turn, would have allowed the international teams to then meet up for friendly games and for those nations lucky enough to have qualified for Russia this summer to prepare for the Word Cup.
Take Alex Mcleish. The set-up I’m suggesting would have allowed him a period of time, of his choosing, with his players.
He could have had them for one week, or 16/17 days, or something in between. It would have given him proper time to look at players and organise games.
The players would have been focused and not concerned about getting injured to make sure they arrived back at their clubs in one piece.
It may also have allowed Scotland not to take on the end-of-season tour to Peru and Mexico, although we can’t hold FIFA responsible for that.
I’ve spoken to a number of football supporters about this and they agree with me. You only have to look at attendances around Europe and beyond for the games last week and the stadiums weren’t exactly bursting at the seams.
Sure, a few nations did have capacity crowds. But if you take Scotland’s game against Costa Rica, Hampden was less than half-full.
The game was big Alex’s first back of his second time in charge. It didn’t go to plan and the 1-0 defeat wasn’t well received by many inside the stadium.
Scotland did take a while to get going. But we have to remember it was a new team, with five debutants, so that was always going to throw up one or two difficult situations.
Costa Rica’s goal was a wee bit jammy and it gave them something to hold on to. They packed their box, so it was difficult for the Scots to break them down. That’s to be expected as it always easier to destroy than create.
As much as I say that the games didn’t serve any real purpose at this stage of the season, Alex would have been delighted with the way Scott Mckenna from Aberdeen played.
For the past five or six years, we have been crying out for one or two central defenders to emerge. Mckenna has absolutely stepped forward.
Considering he was on loan at Ayr United last season, his rise has been fairly rapid.
He can head the ball, has a turn of pace and also doesn’t hesitate to clear his lines when it’s merited. I like the look of him.
He went on to build on last Friday night by playing well again away to Hungary in the 1-0 victory.
Jack Hendry was in the team in Budapest and came out of the game with enormous credit. He looks as though he has a big future in the game at a high level.
So, with Hendry at 22 and Mckenna at 21, there are reasons to be cheerful.
But as we’ve said about Scott Mctominay, let’s not heap too much pressure on them. They need to be protected and there needs to be a sense of perspective.
So, we have a victory to build on and I was pleased for Alex not to lose both games. That wouldn’t have been good for him and not good for the FIFA rankings.
The two games also showed exactly how difficult it can be to play at home and maybe slightly easier away from home. In front of your own supports, the onus is on you to attack and entertain.
Sure, you want to do both things when you are in another country’s stadium but there isn’t quite the same pressure to mount wave after wave.
So, it’s about being adaptable and reacting to situations. Scotland showed last Tuesday that they have different dimensions to their play.
The hardest part is to be creative and break down the opposition.
I hope they can continue to do that – home and away.