- Mar 10, 2005
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There are far fewer meaningless friendlies than there used to be before the Nations League.As far as I know, the Nations League was a way to replace meaningless friendlies with a made up tournament, then they kept the meaningless friendlies.
And, if you really think about it, all tournaments are made up
These March games before major summer tournaments are a bit of an outlier because they are needed to qualify the final few teams like Wales who are playing two for them incredibly important fixtures, but for those who are already qualified or out they are just holes in the calendar that have to be filled.
And they do actually have to be filled for FIFA rankings and contractual obligations reasons. You can't just decide to skip them, and why would any international manager decide against playing fixtures to get the squad together and start tournament preparations anyway?
The international break I want to see canned is the September one. Rejig the calendar and give club football a bit longer after the season starts before the international squads get their time. Three or four league games before a break is too few.