MADRID, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Newcastle United forward Anthony Gordon may have said that his England debut against Brazil on Saturday was the "best day of his life" as he fulfilled a childhood dream, but England coach Gareth Southgate may beg to differ, and so may Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and FC Barcelona's Xavi Hernandez among others.

The current international break comes with two months left in the season and everything to be decided in domestic and European competitions. The break follows three months of intense football, which have seen several clubs compete on three fronts - in their domestic leagues and cups, as well as in Europe.

That means that after over ten weeks of playing virtually twice a week, players have to jet off to play for their country with heavy legs. Some of them didn't even get that far: England were without center-forward and captain Harry Kane, left-back Luke Shaw and winger Bukayo Saka for Saturday's defeat to Brazil, while left-back Jose Luis Gaya was out for Spain.

While the injuries give coaches the chance to try other players - such as Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney in England's case, and Pedro Porro in Spain's - coaches know they are judged on results and that injuries aren't always taken into account in the harsh court of public opinion.

Southgate should have his key players back when he names his squad for the European Championships, but poor results in March will increase the pressure ahead of the tournament.

Meanwhile, club coaches will be looking on anxiously, hoping that nothing happens to key players ahead of the decisive run-in to the end of the season. Guardiola must be worried about the ankle injury suffered by defender Kyle Walker against Brazil eight days ahead of what could be a Premier League title decider against Arsenal next weekend, and 17 days before the visit to play Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.

Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti will be crossing his fingers after seeing Jude Bellingham leave the England-Brazil match with problems, while Jules Kounde's ankle could have produced a sleepless night for Xavi Hernandez.

With so much at stake, there's a simple question that needs to be asked: Would it be better to scrap the March international break, use the extra time to bring forward the end of the club season by a week, and give an extra week to international matches at the end of May? Enditem

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