The International break is now over and the managers of the 32 nations that have qualified for the World Cup will be starting to draft their 23-man squads.Players had the opportunity to impress the selectors with two friendly matches over the past week as they attempt to book their place on the plane.And many players now face a very anxious wait to discover whether they’ve done enough.In fact, some players were left to look on nervously during this international break after not being selected for the recent friendlies.One of those was Alvaro Morata.The Chelsea striker wasn’t named in Julen Lopetegui’s squad for exhibition matches against Germany and Argentina.Morata would have been hoping the strikers that did get the nod ahead of him didn’t impress as he aims to wrestle back his place ahead of the World Cup.
THINGS COULD HAVE GONE BETTER FOR MORATA
But, as it turns out, it was a pretty disastrous international break for the former Real Madrid striker.
Spanish football experts Phil Kitromilides and Sid Lowe were speaking about La Roja’s final squad and they think Morata’s chances are now very slim. Fast forward to 16 minutes in the podcast below to hear them discuss Morata’s struggles.
Why?
Well, Valencia striker Rodrigo scored in the 1-1 draw against Germany.
MORATA PROBABLY DIDN'T ENJOY ARGENTINA GAME
Not ideal for Morata.
But he would have been watching the 6-1 victory over Argentina with the same body language as Lionel Messi.
Isco’s hat-trick proved that Spain could end up playing with a ‘False Nine,’ while strikers Diego Costa and Iago Aspas also scored during the thrashing.
It couldn't have gone much worse.
With Morata scoring just 13 times in 39 appearances for Chelsea this season, he’s going to need to impress in the final few months of the season to stand any chance of being on that plane to Russia.
While things didn’t go too well for Morata in a footballing sense, he did share some very good news from a personal point of view.
That’s because he revealed on Instagram that his wife is pregnant with twins.
Maybe the international break wasn’t such a disaster for Morata after all.