Five things we learned from last week’s international friendlies

Most international managers are reshuffling and picking their final World Cup squads, meaning these friendlies were pivotal for some.

Many say that international friendlies are a terrible indicator of a country’s progress, and how they will fare in a major tournament.

While that was proved when England beat Portugal in a pre-Euro 2016 game (we all saw what happened after that), there are some things that we can take from these matches.

There were plenty of them – some mouth-watering encounters between Belgium and Portugal, Spain and Switzerland and Brazil and Croatia heightened the anticipation for this summer’s festival of football.

From Neymar’s return to Peru’s upsurge, I look at some of the things we learned from a week of warm-up matches.

Neymar makes imposing return to action

The Brazilian maestro scored on his return after three months out with an ankle problem.

After suffering a nasty injury for PSG back in February, his World Cup was put in jeopardy.

But, the winger reappeared for his first game since that setback and certainly made his presence felt in front of the Anfield crowd.

Brazil edged past Croatia in an underwhelming friendly on Merseyside, and Neymar was the man to prise the deadlock open twenty minutes before the end.

A lovely slalom and lethal finish from close range gave everyone a concise reminder of what he is capable of.

Almost as if he never left, the Brazilian continues his recovery prior to the World Cup.

Brazil can take plenty of encouragement from his magnificent cameo against Croatia, and in a week’s time when the Selecao face Austria, Neymar will be well on track to reaching full fitness yet again.