ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger believes it will not be long before there is no room in busy football schedules for international friendlies.
England suffered their first defeat under new manager Fabio Capello when they were beaten 1-0 by a under-strength France side in Paris on Wednesday night.
Wenger was at the Stade de France as a pundit for French television and he feels such encoun
ters have little meaning now, with everyone so focused on competitive games.
"I am scared that in the modern game, there is no room any more for friendly internationals – not because countries take our players, just because people will not be interested in that any more," Wenger said.
"There is nothing at stake. People want to see competitive games. Maybe I am completely wrong but in the end you get people to travel and it is good as an experiment for a manager to work on things.
"But, is it in the long term feasible for people to travel and spend their money to watch this kind of game? I am not sure."
The Arsenal manager continued: "They are slowly starting to cut the number of international games because they have no meaning any more in the modern game. People want to see competitive games. You sit here today. You can't say England were fantastic or France were fantastic. Straight away you say 'but it was only a friendly'."
Arsenal played host to an international on Wednesday night, with more than 60,000 people turning up at Emirates Stadium to see Brazil take on Sweden.
The Arsenal manager believes the time would be better spent having squads assemble for a few days rather than taking on opposition just for the sake of it.
"They could be replaced by training camps," Wenger said. "You have to think about it if attendances and television audiences go down. I saw many friendly games last night with half-empty stadiums.
"I believe frankly that it means a lot to my players. When I speak to my players, they want to do well in the European Championship, they want to do well in the World Cup.
"It really matters to them. You could see a guy like (David] Beckham. He was ready to die to get his 100th cap. If he wasn't and it didn't matter, he would not have done that."
The full article contains 398 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
