Club soccer around the world — from the Premier League in England to Major League Soccer in the United States to the Primera Division in Argentina — is on pause this weekend to make way for an international break.
It’s a time for the world’s best players to join up with their national teams and play crucial qualifying games for the World Cup, the Nations League and domestic cup competitions.
Nearly every international soccer team across the globe will play over the next week. With so much soccer on offer, it pays to know where to focus. Here are the three most interesting nations to follow during this international break:
Brazil
Brazil is the most successful soccer nation by some distance. It’s qualified for every World Cup it’s entered and come out on top five times. But after years of part-time managers, the seleçao is struggling to find its footing. South America is nearly halfway through its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign and Brazil is stranded in fifth place with a losing record.
Brazil will face two opponents during this international break: Chile and Peru. Brazil should be able to beat them, but Brazil should’ve been able to beat Paraguay and Venezuela, too, and it didn’t manage to get the job done against either of them. If Brazil doesn’t pull at least four points from its clashes this week, it will enter into crisis mode…and may be in danger of missing out on the 2026 World Cup altogether.
