4 Best International Matches To Look Out For This Month
The last international break for the 2023/24 season before the summer international tournaments is upon us! While we have no Premier League games to preview and report on until the end of this month, there is still plenty of football to follow over the next 10 days or so.
Most of these matches hold no water in the grand scheme of things (FIFA rankings) but with the UEFA European Championships and the Copa America coming, it is a great way for the teams involved to prepare.
It is also a low-stakes environment for players who work hard during the club football season to catch their breath away from their clubs.
There are some interesting lineups for the March 2024 international break, however. Here are the best ones to look out for.
England v Brazil – 23.03.2024 (7 PM GMT)
This meeting is a long time coming for two nations that are considered pioneers in football, Brazil for their huge successes and contributions to the sport and England for their organisation of the Laws of the Game which have guided the sport since its founding in the 1860s to this day.
The match also comes as both teams are finetuning their squads for the Copa America and the Euros. The Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate has called up a few new faces who he wishes to test ahead of the tournament while familiar players are in the Brazil training camp with new coach Dorival Junior.
Wembley will be the ground where this battle takes place. England will be hoping they can get a fifth win against the Samba Boys, following 11 losses and 11 draws in 26 meetings across their history.
More than pride, a victory in this outing will be a morale booster for both sides, who are desperately seeking to get back to the top of the food chain in international football.
France v Germany – 23.02.2024 (8 PM GMT)
Since their FIFA World Cup meeting in the 2014 tournament hosted in Brazil, they have met seven times in the past decade.
Three of those meetings have been in official UEFA games, while the other four have been in friendlies, just like this month’s meeting.
As two of Europe’s football superpowers, frequent meetings to test their superiority on the continent are a good way for both teams to level up. Germany, however, will worry that they have been slightly edged off by Les Bleus in their 33 meetings to date.
Both teams are also gearing up for the 2024 Euros which will be held in Germany, so Didier Deschamps and Julian Nagelsmann will surely use this match to determine their readiness and test out some new faces in their systems.
The match will take place at the prestigious Stade De France, which shows the high esteem in which France holds this meeting. A win for them at their national stadium is expected by all their fans who will be flooding the grounds of the 80,000-capacity dome.
Nigeria v Ghana – 22.03.2024 (3 PM GMT)
Fans are preparing for another iteration of the biggest rivalry in African football. The “Jollof Derby” as it has come to be called features Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Ghana’s Black Stars, two of Africa’s most successful teams on and off the continent.
Their last meeting was in 2022, when Ghana prevented Nigeria from securing the ticket to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Nigerian fans rioted as a result of the Super Eagles’ failure to defeat their rivals, which shows the extent of the competitiveness between both teams and sets of fans.
This time around, the match is being played on neutral ground, in Marrakech, Morocco, which is possibly to contain any form of violence following one or the other team’s loss. However, fans are already taking to their social media accounts to talk boldly about the match and make overconfident predictions.
Ghana have prevailed 25 times out of 56 times in this meeting while Nigeria have won only 12 meetings. This will be THE game to follow among the African friendlies during this international break.
Cote d’Ivoire v Uruguay – 26.03.2024 (7:30 PM GMT)
This is one of the curious matchups in the March 2024 international break lineup.
Cote d’Ivoire braved all odds in February 2024 to beat Nigeria to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations title in front of their home fans. They are still basking in that euphoria and this is why they want to test themselves against the world’s best.
This meeting looks interesting on paper, with the stats tending towards the current AFCON champions being better placed to win. There is also no history to draw from, as these two teams have never faced each other, unofficiallN or officially. This is what makes this match a curious one.
History will be made on March 26 in France when both teams clash. Emerse Fae will be looking to consolidate his AFCON win against a football behemoth like Uruguay, especially after being appointed as the team’s permanent manager following the turnaround he directed in the AFCON 2023 tournament.
Liverpool striker Darwin Nuñez is out of the clash after pulling up with an injury in his last outing for Liverpool.