6) Why has O’Neill not signed a contract agreed three months ago?
Throughout this international break, culminating in salvaging a point from a poor performance in Serbia, the Republic of Ireland were being managed by a man without a contract. Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane had agreed new deals with the FAI in June, leading to an excited announcement that they would remain in charge. Yet the pair have still not signed and the sense of uncertainty lingered throughout the past week, even if they were playing down its importance. The players were more interested in keeping up to date with Peaky Blinders, Keane reckoned, but with reports of Hull City being interested in O’Neill, they really should be. The team have improved greatly under O’Neill’s guidance and there looked to be a bright future ahead, despite having a tough group here, featuringWales and Austria. If he left, a replacement of his standard will not be easy to come by and the FAI would not even be compensated. The issue begs one question: why is the chief executive, John Delaney, not putting a piece of paper in front of them and making sure they sign? It would make sense – on every level. AS
7) Chile in danger of missing out
While a second successive Copa America victory represents a handy summer’s work for Chile, their qualification campaign for the World Cup continues to stumble. After two wins and a draw from their first three games, they have won just one of their last five, the latest round seeing them lose to Paraguay and draw 0-0 at home to Bolivia, leaving them seventh in the ten-team qualifying group. It is of course too early to panic, just two points off fourth and an automatic place in Russia with ten games remaining, but there is still enough cause for concern, particularly as their remaining fixtures include trips to Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. The unforgiving altitude of La Paz hasn’t hampered Chile enormously in the past, as they’ve won their last three trips there 2-0, but playing at nearly 12,000ft is no stroll in the park. “When one reaches glory is it hard to keep up,” said Arturo Vidal - who currently has ‘Campeón’ shaved into his hair, both an indisputable statement and a honking piece of hubris - said after the game. They need to recover from their post-Copa hangover fairly quickly, or else qualification could get ticklish, at best. NM
8) Müller in the goals but Götze still a problem
It took Thomas Müller only 15 minutes and one shot to get back among the goals and somewhat inevitably a second followed in Germany’s 3-0 win over Norway. It made his misfiring at the Euros even more perplexing and led to Joachim Löw, tongue firmly in cheek, saying: “I would have preferred it if he would have scored some goals at the European Championship”. Yet the world champions are still short on goalscorers and, as Mats Hummels suggested before the game, there are probably more players in the current squad who want to assist rather than put the ball in the net. “We have a lot of players who like to set up goals,” Hummels said. “And I think we could use more players who want to score goals, which is a bit unusual. Because you’d normally have a few who are eager to score.” Mario Götze was tried as a false nine again and he remained ineffective. It is the only missing piece in a squad that otherwise would be undisputedly the strongest in the world.AS
9) A new international rivalry?
Who knew Poland and Kazakhstan could have such a spicy rivalry? The two teams drew 2-2 on Sunday, a fine second-half comeback and a brace from Sergei Khizhnichenko earning the draw for the Kazakhs, but the football seemed incidental at some points. There were ten bookings during the match (four for the Poles, six for Kazakhstan), including one particularly impressive burst of four in five heated minutes, and there might have been more stringent punishment for Robert Lewandowski had the referee been a little less forgiving. The Bayern Munich striker left the defender Yeldos Akhmetov with a bloody nose after an elbow to the face that, to give Lewandowski the benefit of the doubt, might possibly have been accidental. The headlock later on in the game, on Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, was a little more difficult to explain away. Islamkhan was also on the ugly end of a clothesline to the throat from Bartosz Kapustka, after which Kamil Glik received a yellow card for encouraging the Kazahkstan skipper to get up by nudging him with his boot, while talking to the referee: a brassy move and no mistake. In Poland’s defence the Kazahks did seem to spend much of the game antagonising and niggling at their opponents, perhaps irked by Artur Boruc’s attempt at pre-match banter on his Instagram feed, posting a picture of, yes, of course it was, Borat. “This was a bucket of cold water,” said the Poland coach, Adam Nawałka, afterwards, about throwing away two points, but perhaps one before the game in order to cool his boys off might have been in order. NM
10) Why Snodgrass is vital for Strachan’s team
The fragility of Scotland’s central defence may only have been highlighted once again against Malta but there was at least cause for renewed attacking hope. It is routine for a player’s status to be enhanced when injured but the absence of Robert Snodgrass throughout Scotland’s failed Euro 2016 qualifying campaign was significant. A generous Scottish backline could not be bailed out by the guile and scoring touch of Snodgrass. On a personal level, no one could grudge Snodgrass his hat-trick in Malta after the kneecap injury that earlier disrupted his career and international journey. Sunday evening marked only the 28-year-old’s 18th cap. Snodgrass remains one of the most popular players in the Scotland set-up and an individual who energises team-mates, on and off the field. A fit and firing Snodgrass is absolutely key to Gordon Strachan’s aspirations of ending Scotland’s time in the international wilderness. The Hull City man can operate in a variety of attacking positions within Strachan’s preferred 4-2-3-1 system. Snodgrass retains pace and power not common for Scottish players. He can also remove the burden from Strachan’s strikers, who haven’t been even close to prolific. The standard of opponent for Scotland will soon improve. Given there appears no obvious cure for a shaky defence, an increase in potency will be vital. Snodgrass seems willing to take on that responsibility. EM
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