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International Break Spurs’ Preview

By Ryan Wrenn

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 06 : Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at White Hart Lane on February 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 06 : Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at White Hart Lane on February 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images) /
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All 11 of the Spurs starting lineup that played against Bournemouth on Sunday will be on international duty for the next week and a half.

Though Mauricio Pochettino claims not to be concerned about the effects of the international break right at the tail end of the season, seeing all of his best players get perhaps two extra matches of football in their legs before the final push can’t be too thrilling.

He might be mollified somewhat with the knowledge that all but one of those players called up are involved in actual competitive games. Almost to a man, the squad will be involved in friendlies preparing for this summers’ Euro 2016 tournament in France. Spurs can request that their players be used relatively sparingly over such games, though it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a player or two play for the full 90 minutes of any game their involved in.

Well beyond any practical concerns are the players themselves and the pride they feel in being able to represent their country. Even if these particular games are coming at an inopportune time, there’s no reason not to be happy for the lot of them.

Many Spurs fans might not be happy about having to watch mostly meaningless international soccer over the next week and a half though. There’s still a chance to see some – er, all – of your favorite Spurs players in action, though. Let’s break them down.

England is by far the biggest benefactor of Pochettino’s youth movement at Spurs. The club will contribute Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose to Roy Hodgson’s team for friendly matches against Germany on March 26th and the Netherlands on March 29th. We can expect to see Hodgson attempt to rekindle the chemistry Kane and Alli create so often in the Premier League, while Eric Dier will be splitting minutes with Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater in deeper midfield. Walker and Rose face some competition from Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne and Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand respectively for starting berths.

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Belgium understandably thought it best to cancel their friendly against Portugal scheduled for March 29th. Mousa Dembélé, Toby Alderweireld and Nacer Chadli will presumably have the rest of the break off to join their country in mourning Tuesday’s awful terrorist attacks.

Austria looks set to add to Kevin Wimmer’s two caps for the country in matches against Albania on March 25th and Turkey on March 29th. The 23-year-old centre-back has performed admirably well in the absence of Jan Vertonghen since January, and it’s entirely likely he gets another call up for the Euros this summer.

Wales is preparing for what will be an exciting Euros for the surprisingly strong team. Ben Davies is expected to feature in one or both of their matches against Northern Ireland on March 25th and Ukraine on March 28th.

France are hosting this summer’s tournament, and thus will be relying heavily on the considerable talents of Spurs’ goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. He is expected between the sticks for Les Bleus in matches against Netherlands on March 25th – assuming it too is not also cancelled in response to the recent attacks – and Russia on March 29th.

Denmark might not be involved in the Euros, but that doesn’t mean they don’t take the chance to start preparing for World Cup qualification after the tournament is over. Christian Eriksen could feature in the country’s matches against Iceland on March 24th and Scotland on March 29th.

Argentina stands out on this list for actually having real competitive games coming up over the next week, and Érik Lamela might well feature in them. They will first be recreating last summer’s Copa América final in their visit to Chile on March 24th then hosting Bolivia in Argentina on March 29th.

Next: Spurs' Harry kane Update: He's Still Good

Nabil Bentaleb will miss duty with Algeria due to his recent injury, while it appears as if Heung-min Son was held back from duty with South Korea on request from Spurs.

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