Why this international break is the most important so far?

The final international break is about to commence this week, with several countries across the World trying to book their place in next year's World Cup. Nine PSG players were called up for their national teams: Lucas Chevalier (France), Lucas Hernandez (France), Bradley Barcola (France), Warren Zaire Emery (France), Joao Neves (Portugal), Vitinha (Portugal), Goncalo Ramos (Portugal), Lee Kang In (South Korea), and Marquinhos (Brazil). The likes of Nuno Mendes, Achraf Hakimi, and Ousmane Dembele are injured and so won't feature for their national teams.

Here at PSG Post, we discuss why this international break is the most important one of the season.

Why this international break is so important for PSG players?

They can qualify for the World Cup without having to go through the playoff in March

If France win their next home game against Ukraine, then they can rest players when they travel to Azerbaijan for the final matchday. The same can be said for Portugal if they win their game away to the Republic of Ireland. The only European country that has qualified for the World Cup is England, which is remarkable considering that the World Cup qualifiers are coming to a close. Morocco has already qualified for the tournament, so Hakimi's injury is not too much of a blow.

Managers qualified can implement new ideas ahead of the tournament next summer

Most Countries that didn't take part in UEFA World Cup qualifiers have already qualified for the tournament, such as Marquinhos's Brazil and Lee Kang In's South Korea. Brazil has a friendly on Saturday against Senegal at the Emirates while South Korea will face Bolivia at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium. Those friendlies are a great chance for the managers to experiment with different formations ahead of the tournament next summer. They can also see which players complement each other well. Since they are friendly games, wholesale changes can be made to the side.

This will be the last one until March

International managers will have to wait until March for the next round of games. This means that they will not be able to implement any tactics, formations, or experiments for a while, provided they qualify for the tournament over this international break. If they don't qualify, then the next international break becomes more complicated as they will not be able to experiment. If they book a place at next year's tournament, they will play friendlies over the March international break instead of qualifiers. This is beneficial as the World Cup playoffs leave no room for error.