One Nations League fixture to watch every day to ward off Premier League blues | OneFootball

The extended international break is upon us and while we say goodbye to Premier League football until October 10, fear not as there are some actually interesting fixtures to watch.

It’s the return of the Nations League and while it is not exactly the World Cup, it does mean debuts for a lot of familiar faces taking over new jobs.

Here’s one fixture you should watch every day of the international break. Get yourself a VPN…

Thursday September 24: Netherlands v Germany In the build-up to his first game, Jurgen Klopp appeared in a social media video introducing himself to overseas German fans and was full of smiles, which is exactly what his country needs.

Germany feels like it is waiting for that injection of positivity as their World Cup was a miserable affair and Klopp’s infectious enthusiasm may well be the cure for a nation currently in its longest winning drought.

Klopp has left no stone unturned in his quest to find the best German XI and has called up a bumper 44 players for his squad which will be split into two teams in order for the former Liverpool boss to assess a vast number of players.

A trip to the Netherlands feels like a decent barometer in Klopp’s debut.

The Dutch are interesting in themselves for they have appointed Xavi to replace Ronald Koeman, becoming the first non-Dutch head coach since 1978.

Xavi is being entrusted with bringing Cruyff-style football back to the Oranje but it is not exactly a talent-filled generation.

Friday September 25: Italy v Belgium It’s all change in Italy after another World Cup has passed them by.

As the fall-out from their failure to qualify continued, the summer has hardly been one of smooth transition.

Gennaro Gattuso departed and Italy went after Pep Guardiola. He said no.

They went for Carlo Ancelotti, who also said no, and then they settled on Andrea Pirlo, only to withdraw their offer when his links with a Russian betting company emerged.

In the end, they have returned to Roberto Mancini, the man who last brought any kind of joy to the Italian national team.

He was the architect of their Euro 2020 triumph but he was not without his faults. He failed to take Italy to the World Cup in 2022 and left for big bucks in Saudi Arabia.

Behind him for his second stint is Claudio Ranieri as technical director and while qualifying for the World Cup should be achievable for a side ranked 15th in the world, there is a very real mental block in doing that.

The first step on the road to recovery is facing Belgium in Rome but this is far from a vintage Italian generation. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Riccardo Calafiori and Nocolo Barella are the stand-outs but Moise Kean is the first-choice number nine. Hardly the same level of talent as 20 years ago.

As for Belgium, Rudi Garcia left after Belgium’s World Cup quarter-final exit and Mark van Bommel took over for what is his first managerial job in two years. Is that a good start? Probably not but let’s go with it.

A few remnants remain over the golden generation that failed to shine in what is otherwise a good, if not great, squad.

Saturday September 26: England v Spain In a parallel universe, this could have been the World Cup final, but we all know what happened in this damned universe.

England’s semi-final defeat all feels a little too fresh in the memory and frankly, fans having to watch the team again as part of a three-week hiatus from Premier League football will not do Thomas Tuchel any favours.

The German has a lot of bridges to rebuild after his tactical decisions in the World Cup and many are surprised he managed to even remain in the job.

A positive, attack-minded result would go a long way; the problem is they are playing the best country on the planet.

There’s every chance Spain rip through England and a subdued Wembley could become outright hostile to the man in the dugout.

An England v Spain match is always worth a watch but this one feels genuinely unmissable.

Sunday September 27: Israel v Ireland What better way to build up to a match then to have one FA accuse the head coach of their upcoming opponent of ‘ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity’?

There is an ongoing row between Israel and Ireland after head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson made his position very clear by saying “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel.”

Considering he is an Icelandic coach in Ireland, two countries with very clear views of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the comments are hardly surprising but the Israel FA fired back on X.

“We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach.

“We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, We’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

It’s a row that has pulled in political leaders too with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin defending the country’s manager, telling Israel to withdraw the “unsupportable remarks”.

All of this has built up quite the pre-match atmosphere ahead of their meeting in Hungary on Sunday.

Will it bubble over to the pitch? Most likely not but it’s one to certainly keep an eye on.

Monday September 28: Belgium v France After waiting patiently, Zinedine Zidane has finally got the France gig and it will be interesting to see what he intends to do with it.

On paper, the French team is the only one that could rival Spain in terms of talent, but they did not make the most of that in the summer.

The interesting thing about Zidane is that people are still not quite sure if he is a good manager.

He’s won two league titles and three Champions Leagues but has only ever managed Real Madrid. which feels like playing FIFA on semi-pro difficulty.

Of course with France he also has an uber-talented squad but while he had Kroos and Modric to balance Madrid’s tracking force, France have a load of attackers, all of which don’t fancy tracking back too much.

They’ll score some goals no doubt but the other end is just as important if they are to have meaningful success.

A test against Belgium will be a good second game to get a sense of what Zidane’s France looks like.

Tuesday September 29: Czechia v England If (when) England lose to Spain, it suddenly feels like there is a lot more riding on this trip to Czechia.

Let’s not forget that an underwhelming Nations League campaign had critics calling for Southgate’s head and he had far more credit in the bank than Tuchel.

And ‘trip to the Czech Republic’ fits nicely in the ‘would rather not go there needing a result’ bracket.

England should comfortably swat aside a team ranked 44 places lower but if they look poor doing so, or even worse if they fail to win, there will be growing questions over Tuchel’s future.

Thursday October 1: Germany v Serbia The second week of international fixtures begins with Klopp’s third game in charge of the Germany team and most likely when he rotates in his second squad.

If everything has gone positively in the first two games, then there will be a sense of confidence of what’s to come for German football fans and if this second team also do well, suddenly the future looks very bright.

On the other hand, if Germany fail to win their first two games then the B-squad suddenly seem a lot more important.

The true first team will be a mix of both squads but players in either camp should be eager to make an impression.

Friday October 2: France v Italy Two international football juggernauts go head to head at almost polar opposite ends of expectation.

This is a France team that has featured in plenty of World Cup and European Championship finals in recent memory, while Italy do not have a single player who played in a World Cup in their squad.

Even with the relative disparity between the current levels of the squads, France v Italy is an occasion that is not to be missed.

The Italians have the overall record with 19 wins to France’s 12 and the last four games have ended 3-1 so you can expect goals.

Saturday October 3: Spain v Czechia If the earlier match between Croatia and England depressed you, allow Spain to be the antidote.

Watching this generation of Spanish players feels like a treat, especially when they are not playing against your country, and seeing the likes of Lamine Yamal at his best is well worth tuning in for.

This also feels like a special fixture as Spain will be playing at Real Oviedo’s home rather than one of the traditional big stadiums.

Right next door to the pleasingly named Parque Juan Mata.

Sunday October 4: Ireland v Israel If the first fixture on neutral soil was one to watch, Israel’s visit to Dublin is another.

Depending on the fallout from the first meeting of the two countries, this could well be quite the atmosphere from an Irish crowd not afraid of showing their distaste of Israel’s currently ongoing actions.

On the pitch, the Nations League represents a route to qualification that Ireland should be looking to exploit in a group alongside Israel, Kosovo and Austria.

Monday October 5: France v Belgium At over two weeks into the international break, by this point we will all be experiencing fatigue and a desperation for the Premier League to return, but there are still a couple of decent fixtures to whet the appetite.

On the penultimate day of football, we have the reverse fixture of France v Belgium and depending on how the other results go, this could either be an excellent way to sign off for either team or a final game to prove the previous week was just a blip.

From Zidane and France’s perspective, they will want full points from this break while Belgium will want to prove they can still compete with the top teams.

Tuesday October 6: England v Czechia We’re onto the 12th and final day of Nations League football and what better way to spend it than being underwhelmed by England?

The Three Lions take to the Wembley pitch to face Czechia and it is honestly hard to predict what kind of state the team and the country’s mood will be in.

On paper, England should win all but one game in this international break but if for whatever reason they don’t, things will look a bit bleak for the future.

Tuchel needs to have a positive international break or calls for his sacking will grow and perhaps even more importantly than results, he needs to play with attacking intent.

At home to Czechia seems a perfect place to let the handbrake off.