Dier the dependable, Costa can be a real threat for Spain, Gabriel Jesus gives Neymar some backing and Snodgrass proves worth for Scotland
Clockwise from top left: Scotland’s Robert Snodgrass after the game against Malta, Eric Dier and Marek Hamsik compete for a header, Thomas Müller of Germany, Diego Costa celebrates scoring and Republic of Ireland’s Martin O’Neill during the match against Serbia. Composite: Jim Powell/Getty Images, Reuters and Rex
1) Is dependable Dier now England’s best midfielder?
Eric Dier was one of the few England players to escape the post-Iceland wreckage without scathing criticism, yet he was also quick to put his hands up and admit it will be a long time before the scars are healed. He sounded genuinely apologetic about the disaster in France after the far from perfect win in Slovakia on Sunday, which must be welcomed. “There is a long way to go until the scars have been healed but it is a start,” he said. “All we can do is win against whoever we have in front of us but I think there is a long way to go before we repay everyone for what happened in the Euros.” Yet Dier also deserves praise for his performances. There is a growing argument that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has been England’s best player in 2016, doing much of the thankless dirty work that passes by unnoticed. And in Trnava on Sunday evening he was as dependable as usual. Nobody touched or passed the ball more and with plenty of questions over the composition of Sam Allardyce’s midfield in the future, Dier must be the only certain starter. AS
2) Back to reality for Portugal
There’s nothing like the harsh realities of a qualification campaign to take the edge off your buzz. With the significant caveat that Cristiano Ronaldo, working his way back from the knee injury that took him out of the Euro 2016 final in Paris, was absent for their trip to Switzerland, it was still a limp Portugal that lost 2-0 in Basel. This was the coach Fernando Santos’s first competitive defeat since taking charge in 2014 and Éder, the hero of the summer, was hooked at half-time having made minimal impact. Down to earth with a bump, to say the least. Portugal do have a history of struggling rather in the preliminaries, requiring play-offs to reach the past two World Cups and Euro 2012, and from the way they started the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, they might be in for another struggle this time.NM
3) Costa steps up and fires a warning for Spain
First, a caveat: it was only Liechtenstein. But Spain still looked slick in their first competitive game under Julen Lopetegui and perhaps the most striking aspect of all was Diego Costa’s return having missed out on the Euro 2016 squad. The perception of the Chelsea striker in Spain, after switching allegiances from Brazil, his country of birth, in 2013, has never been wholly positive and there remains some animosity between him and sections of the Spanish press. To be given the nod instead of Álvaro Morata to start against Liechtenstein would have been a boost, and by contributing two goals in the 8-0 rout (though Morata scored a pair when replacing Costa from the bench) will have been a big step to establishing himself as the regular first choice plus a warning to the sceptics that he is capable of elevating La Roja back to the very top. Loetegui was full of praise, too, saying: “Diego is a great player and he showed as much today”. AS
4) Qualification must become the norm for Wales
Niall Quinn made a valid point on TV before Wales’s thrashing of Moldova. He was comparing Chris Coleman’s team qualifying for their first tournament this summer to when the Republic of Ireland made it to Euro 88. The key, Quinn said, was building upon that success by keeping the same team together and making tournaments the norm rather than exception. Ireland, of course, made it to Italia 90 and the subsequent World Cup in 1994. Wales have started well, albeit against the weakest team in the group, and all the evidence suggests they are justifiably the favourites in a difficult group. Yet crucially for Wales, the team remains the same, injuries aside, and the key players are at an age where they can build upon their unprecedented success in France. AS
5) Neymar gets some help from Gabriel Jesus
When Manchester City fans of a certain vintage and disposition watch Gabriel Jesus, they might only see the burgeoning shoots of crushing disappointment appear before their eyes. For there is great excitement back home about the latest kid to have the anvil marked “saviour of Brazilian football” hung around his neck, and it’s not hard to see why. The 19-year-old looks pretty special, emphasising the point during Brazil’s game against Ecuador, winning a penalty then scoring two, the second an example of how to combine precision and power, a postage-stamp effort curled in from the edge of the area. From a Brazilian perspective, they might at least hope that he eventually takes some of the heat off Neymar, who was called upon to save his team in their 2-1 win over Colombia on Tuesday night, lashing in the winner with the air of a man thinking, “Ah, OK then, I’ll sort this again.” The great Brazil teams never had only one superstar, and they must now hope that Gabriel can join Neymar at that level. NM
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