International week winners and losers

Winners

Wayne Rooney

When Jose Mourinho dropped his captain for the first time it didn’t take long for it to become obvious why. Manchester United found themselves 3-0 up at half-time against Leicester City, playing a brand of exciting, dynamic football that wouldn’t have been possible with Rooney in the team. From then on it was always going to be difficult for the 30-year-old to force his way back into the fold at Old Trafford.

Rooney must have feared a similar fate when Gareth Southgate dropped him from England’s lineup to face Slovenia. But unlike Man Utd, England showed they are just as insipid and turgid with Rooney out the team as they are with him in it. He’ll likely get another chance at international level, although his future at club level is far less positive.

Kevin Gameiro

France have such footballing depth they could have picked two strong squads for Euro 2016 and still competed, but the omission of Kevin Gameiro - coming off the back of a 29-goal season for Sevilla - was surprising for many. The striker, now with Atletico Madrid, showed Les Blues what they missed in games against Bulgaria and Netherlands, though.

Gameiro found the net against Bulgaria while impressing in Amsterdam on Monday. He provides a dimension that neither Olivier Giroud not Andre Pierre Gignac can, making his omission from the Euro 2016 all the more puzzling. Didier Deschamps probably won’t leave him out again.

James McLean

The Republic of Ireland winger isn’t one for shirking controversy, but he had a point after his side’s win over Moldova on Sunday. “We got a lot of flak after the Serbia game and a lot of flak after the Georgia game, I think unfairly so,” he said.

“I think the Irish press needs to have a bit of a reality check: we’re not going to blow teams away, we know that. We’ve always been a team that works hard. When has winning never been enough?” Indeed, Ireland remain unbeaten in World Cup qualification, winning their last two games in somewhat fashion. McLean is right, they should be cut some slack.

Andrea Beloti

There is an opening in the Italian national team; they need a striker. With Graziano Pelle playing in China new Azzurri boss Giampiero Ventura is looking for a frontman playing at the highest level, and Beloti could turn out to be that figure.

The Torino striker opened his national team account in the win over Macedonia, building on his form at club level which has seen him score five times in just four starts this season. The 22-year-old is widely seen as one of the brightest prospects in the Italian game and after his performances this week Ventura could place his faith in Beloti as his long-term number nine.

Sweden

Most expected Sweden to struggle in the post-Zlatan Ibrahimovic age, with the Manchester United striker retiring from international duty following the summer’s European Championships. But under Janne Anderson they are currently sitting top of Group A alongside France, winning two and drawing one of their opening three fixtures.

The 3-0 win over Bulgaria was particularly impressive, pulling off a comprehensive victory with little fuss. Sweden still have France and Netherlands to face in the group, but the early signs are positive that they can cope without Ibrahimovic leading the line.

Losers

Gordon Strachan

This international week was always likely to either make or break Scotland’s World Cup qualification campaign, and after taking just one point against Lithuania and Slovakia it appears to have done the latter. Gordon Strachan is under real pressure now, with the media and the supporters now turned against the Dark Blues boss.

Strachan is too stubborn to resign, with the Scottish FA unlikely to make a change before the end of the campaign (when they would have to pay off the remainder of his contract), but it;s difficult to envisage the former Celtic and Middlesborough boss recovering from this blow.

The minnows

It has long been proposed that European minnows should have to contest a preliminary qualification process before entering the main qualification process. That proposal was backed up by some of the minnows’ performances over the past week, particularly Andorra’s display in their 6-0 defeat to Portugal.

Some of their tackles verged on assault, with two red cards flashed to Andorran players. The Faroe Islands also suffered a 6-0 defeat to Portugal, although San Marino fared much better, scoring their first goal for 15 years against Norway. They eventually succumbed to a 4-1 loss, but the damage to the minnows (along with the shins of Portugal’s players) might have already been done.

Cristiano Ronaldo

On the face of things the three-time Ballon d’Or enjoyed a rather fruitful international week, scoring five goals in just two games. But knowing Ronaldo as we do, the fact that he only notched a single goal in Portugal’s 6-0 thumping of the Faroe Islands will grate. That will put him in a bad mood for months.

Indeed, this was an opportunity for Ronaldo to fill his boots, and while he did that against Andorra, scoring four goals which is now apparently called a ‘poker,’ he turned in a below par performances against the tiny islanders on Monday. Five goals in two games, still not good enough… by Ronaldo’s standards at least.

Iceland (again)

Iceland’s blinding success at the European Championships was just a one-off, right? They would surely fall away in this World Cup qualification campaign, especially following the exit of coach Lars Lagerback. At least, that was the assumption made over the islanders. How wrong that has been proved.

Impressive wins over Finland and Turkey have put Iceland join top of Group I with Croatia, underlining how their success will be sustained over more than just one tournament. We might need to get used to the Viking Clap.

Per-Mathias Hogmo

The Norway manager was already under pressure before this international week and speculation over his future in charge of the national team is only likely to intensity after defeat to Azerbaijan and a somewhat embarrassing 4-1 win over San Marino.

Conceding a goal to the worst team in European football doesn’t come without consequences, with former Celtic manager Ronny Deila already reported by some in the Norwegian press to be lined up to replace Hogmo. The door might have slammed shut in the last chance saloon for him.