Portsmouth boss John Mousinho criticises FIFA decision ahead of three-week international break

John Mousinho has criticised FIFA’s decision to shake up the international fixtures calendar.

The Pompey boss believes football’s governing body has gone from ‘one extreme to the other’ after it decided to extend the season’s first international break to three weeks to allow national teams to play up to four games.

Traditionally, three two-week breaks to the domestic game are scheduled for September, October and November each year to facilitate countries’ matches prior to Christmas, with a fourth booked in for March.

However, this term has seen the September and October dates condensed into one block before national teams meet up again near the end of autumn (November 9-17) and then again in the spring (March 22-30).

It means Pompey will have a staggering 22 days between their home fixture against Blackburn Rovers this Saturday and their south-coast derby trip to rivals Southampton on Sunday, October 11.

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Having a three-week break at any time of the season is not something Mousinho is a fan of, let alone just a month after the latest campaign began.

He believes it will disrupt his and other teams’ flow, with the Blues boss insisting a second break after Christmas would have been his preference.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s home game against Blackburn, the Pompey boss said: ‘I don't think a three-week break in the middle of the season is a good thing. I think we're better off having the shorter breaks.

‘The change I would have made is I would have moved one of the international breaks pre-Christmas to post-Christmas to alleviate a bit of the pressure that we feel post-Christmas a lot of the time, probably in and around late Jan and Feb.

‘The system's sort of gone from one extreme to the other, with three international breaks before Christmas and one after, to this three-week break which I don't think is conducive to good performance with the amount of game time that we miss.

‘We're better being in a decent enough flow, I think we're better off playing games. So yeah, it's going to be an interesting adjustment and we'll see how it goes.’

Pompey head into the Blackburn game sitting 18th in the Championship table with seven points from their six games played. Southampton are currently three points better off in ninth, although they have played one match extra.

During the Blues’ upcoming three-week break, England play Uefa Nations League fixtures against Spain (Sept 26), Czechia (Sept 29 & Oct 6) and Croatia (Oct 3).

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