Whether the various domestic leagues – and Harry Redknapp – like it or not, this is an official FIFA international week. This Tuesday and Wednesday, much of the world’s national teams will be in action. World Cup 2010 is in the history books, and the time for rebirth and rebuilding is about to begin. For example, new Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has called up Antonio Cassano, Amauri and Mario Balotelli, and is rumoured to be considering fielding all three in an attacking trident vs the Ivory Coast on Tuesday, at West Ham’s Upton Park of all places.
USA vs Brazil should be equally interesting, with new Brazil coach Mano Menezes starting fresh with young talent like Alexandre Pato, Ganso, Neymar and Sandro. That game will be played at the Red Bulls new stadium in New York/New Jersey on Tuesday. Kickoff is 8pm US Eastern and it’s on ESPN2 for those in the United States.
Fabio Capello kept his job as England manager, and then named a squad that was half old guard, half new-blood. Will be interesting to see whether he prefers youth or experience vs Hungary at Wembley on Wednesday. Also, we’ll see how newly crowned world champions Spain cope at altitude, when they travel up to the Azteca Stadium to play Mexico. Plenty of other good games happening this week too (Ukraine vs Netherlands for example). Complete list of this week’s international friendly fixtures can be found below:
[copied and pasted from FIFA’s fixtures page]