Where did everyone go?: Chelsea’s Euro heavy international break
By Travis Tyler
The second international break of the season comes to break up Chelsea’s momentum and give time for injuries to heal. Where did everyone go?
Chelsea finally put together a run of winning form and everything feels great. So naturally it is time for an international break to kill all the momentum of the season (again). With Euro Qualifying and CONCACAF taking a page out of UEFA’s playbook on the Nations League, there is basically no such thing as friendlies any more. Oh yes, this is all very competitive and many Chelsea players must face the difficult task of teams with national populations less than most cities in England.
England: Tammy Abraham, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori, Czech Republic (11 October, Euro Qualifying) and Bulgaria (14 October, Euro Qualifying)
It has been a long time since Chelsea had four players called into the English national team. The obvious standouts are going to be Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori who can both be cap tied to the English team with any appearance during the break. With Harry Kane being part of Tottenham’s sinking ship and Tomori being all together excellent, both may even get a start or two.
Mason Mount has already played his part in the national team and Ross Barkley has been a fixture of the side for some time. The two will be competing for minutes but both are likely to feature in what should be a win and a blow out for the English.
France: Olivier Giroud, N’Golo Kante, Kurt Zouma, Iceland (11 October, Euro Qualifying) and Turkey (14 October, Euro Qualifying)
On paper, France has called up three Chelsea players. In practice they have called up one fit player, one who spent a significant portion of the month ill, and another who has been fighting injury since the spring. Of course the two with asterisks, Kante and Giroud, will probably end up playing in both as they are very much key cogs for the French team.
Zouma playing is a little harder to see. France does not rotate a ton and at best Zouma is a third choice center back for them. At some point Didier Deschamps will need to bring in fresh blood but for now he has the World Cup winner’s medal whispering in his ear that everything is okay as it is.