🌍 🏆 International Awards: Record breaker; McBrilliance; teenage dream | OneFootball

European Championship qualifying is in full swing, the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers have begun in earnest.

It was a bumper weekend of international football and here’s what we made of it.

Player of the Weekend

Lamine Yamal made Spanish football history on Friday night as La Roja trounced Georgia in Tblisi.

Luis de la Fuente’s side haven’t exactly ripped up trees during this qualification process.

After their disappointing World Cup campaign, De La Fuente has struggled to get his side to click, especially in attack.

But those worries were case aside this weekend as they scored seven in a demolition of Willy Sagnol’s men.

The night though, belonged to Lamine Yamal.

The 16-year-old was called up for the first time after impressing for Barcelona early on in the season.

And with 15 minutes to go, he not only became the youngest person ever to play for the Spanish senior side, he also became the national team’s youngest ever scorer as well.

Team of the Weekend

Goal of the Weekend

After England’s lacklustre away performance against Ukraine on Saturday, it’s fair to say that this latest round of Euro qualifiers has seen France go clear as the favourites for next year’s tournament.

Les Bleus can do no wrong at the moment and look like they could sweep all before them in Germany next summer.

Didier Deschamps’ side took on Ireland in their Group B clash on Thursday and beat the Boys in Green 2-0 in a fairly routine win.

But there was nothing routine about Aurélien Tchouaméni’s brilliant first half curler.

Gavin Bazunu stood no chance as the Real Madrid midfielder finished superbly to set up his side’s victory in Paris.

Result of the Weekend

What a qualifying campaign this has been for Scotland.

Steve Clarke has reinvigorated the national team with his side five from five and just a point away from securing their place at Euro 2024.

But what was so surprising about their win away in Cyprus was just how unsurprising it was.

It wasn’t so long ago, as Scotland fans will tell you, that a trip to Larnaca to face a side bottom of Group A, would have been deemed a ‘tricky test’.

For this Scotland team though, it was about as routine a win as you can imagine.

Three goals in the opening 30 minutes were all that was needed with Scott McTominay producing another peak Roy Keane-esque display in the middle of the park.

Surprise of the Weekend

A surprise result that ended in a surprise sacking.

Germany have endured a pretty woeful 2023 with Die Mannschaft having failed to win any of their last five games.

But it was Japan — nine months on from stunning Germany at the World Cup — who inflicted the very last blow on Hansi Flick’s tenure with the Blue Samurai winning 4-1 in Wolfsburg.

Flick’s disastrous two-year stint in charge of the national team was then unceremoniously ended on Sunday with the former Bayern Munich boss becoming the first coach to ever be sacked by the DFB in their 120-year history.

Rudi Völler will now take charge of their marquee friendly with France on Tuesday but it’s Julian Nagelsmann who is the favourite to take over for the home European Championships next summer.

Whatever way you cut it, it’s less than ideal preparation for what should be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these players.

Stat of the Weekend

Neymar is a divisive figure in the word football.

On one hand, he’s often derided as a lazy show-pony, on the other there is no denying his talent with a ball at his feet.

And that talent was on full display as Brazil got their 2026 World Cup qualifiers underway against Bolivia.

In what was a fairly low-quality round in CONMEBOL, the Seleçao stood head and shoulders above the rest with a brilliant 5-1 win.

And in the third minute of added time, Neymar did what many thought was impossible: beat Pelé’s goalscoring record for their country.

The Al-Hilal forward took his tally to 78 to overtake the greatest Brazilian striker of them all.

Quote of the Weekend

Argentina needed some more Lionel Messi magic this weekend to beat Ecuador in their opening World Cup qualifier.

But Messi was more interested in praising his team mate and Tottenham centre back Cristian Romero.

The Ballon d’Or winner was effusive about the Spurs defender, who he called “the best in the world”.

“For me, he is the best defender in the world right now. Amazing performance tonight, man of the match.”

The Big Ange effect?