“The party is just getting started. Didier is going to find us in a strange state.” To everything the latest version of Ousmane Dembele is known for – a 33-goal season where he can basically play anywhere in an ever-dynamic Paris St-Germain (PSG) line-up – add a whacky, off-beat sense of humour.
Of the kind Didier Deschamps may not dig.
But seriously, here was a player celebrating his first Champions League medal, in the process possibly not noticing when Saturday bled into Sunday. Here was a team celebrating collectivism which took them to where they had wanted to be a billion euros ago. It deserved a party from which you wouldn’t want to leave. Instead, Dembele and a host of PSG and Inter Milan players had to shrug it all off and report for international duty in less than 48 hours.
Which meant Vitinha (180.2km) and Joao Neves (184.3km), who between them have covered the most distance of all players in the Champions League, and Nuno Mendes had to play in three days as Portugal beat Germany 2-1 in the National League semi-final. And Lee Kang-in got just a little more time to savour being only the second Asian to win a Champions League winner’s medal. In all, 13 players from the rosters in Munich on Saturday were called for international duty.
Tricky window
Of all the international windows, the one in June can be tricky for a national team coach. It was in this window in 2013 that Igor Stimac’s Croatia lost to Scotland, triggering a string of poor results that led to his resignation. What makes the June dates difficult is that summer holidays beckon after a long, gruelling season but you have to lace up for a couple of more games. Games that can be the Nations League semi-final or a crucial World Cup qualifier. Games your future in the national team could hinge on.
Ask Pedro Porro. It was a long time of Jesus Navas and Dani Carvajal doing their stuff before Porro could consolidate his position in Spain line-up. Not for him the chance to bask in the sweet aftertaste of helping Tottenham Hotspur win their first trophy in Europe after 1984. In the week of Porro lining up against France, his Spurs skipper Son Heung-min was trying to help South Korea. All the while not thinking about who will be managing their club next term.
And as soon as the international engagements are done with, many of the world’s elite will have to get ready for the hot American summer for the Club World Cup. Holidays? What’s that.
Different problem
Manolo Marquez is grappling with a different kind of problem. The last time before the friendly against Thailand on Wednesday his players had a competitive game was over one month ago. Marquez can be happy India dominated most of the tie, that the debutants did okay but definitely not about such a poor xG.
After a two-week break, India players had assembled for a preparatory camp in Kolkata before heading out to Thailand and from there to Kowloon City where they will play Hong Kong. Every team in this group are where they were in March so here’s a chance for India to start afresh.
Thailand’s season ended on Saturday, Hong Kong’s on May 25 and that could make the Asian Cup qualifier against India as one between teams in vastly different states of preparedness. I am not sure which is better. But given how listless India were against Bangladesh at home when because the season was on in full swing it should have been the opposite, I live in hope.
Play of the week