As if the international calendar weren't already dense enough, this first Wednesday in February, despite all the main European national championships being alive and even the Champions League ready to get back on track, offers a series of friendlies between national teams. Mostly useless, although a few more interesting ones stand out.
Surely it is the match in Dubai between the European and world champions Spain and the South American champions of Uruguay. Del Bosque's La Roja will not see Casillas, Xavi and Xabi Alonso absent on the field, but will celebrate Puyol's 100th appearance and the debut of interesting young players such as Isco from Malaga. The usual Italian colony instead in Oscar Tabarez's Celeste: the Napoli striker will lead it, in search of another prestigious scalp, and the other "Italians" called up are as many as 6.
In the meantime, Wembley will see the first official appearance of the new Brazilian coach Felipe Scolari, who has been entrusted with the arduous task of bringing the sixth world champion title to the green-and-gold national team at his home World Cup next year. Scolari will bring Neymar and his companions to challenge England, which will celebrate the 100th presence of Ashley Cole, the seventh player ever to join them.
Another confrontation between big names is that of the Stade de France in Paris, where after a year France and Germany meet again (in 2012, in Bremen, Les Bleus won 2-1). For Deschamps it was an opportunity to understand the progress of a national team that is keeping up with Spain in the qualifiers in the presence of Joachim Loew's Mannschaft, one of the most talented formations in world football. Also noteworthy was the big match between Ibrahimovic and Leo Messi's Argentina in Solna, Sweden.
And then there is Prandelli's Italy. The Italy of the "new Italians", as it is defined in these hours, or rather the national team of the foreign-born strike duo Balotelli-El Shaarawy. The two talents are already a couple in Milan, and the away friendly against the Netherlands could be an opportunity to increase their harmony and to definitively clear the new national team, all young and multi-ethnic, of Cesare Prandelli.
