International break primer: November edition

International breaks haven't been the disaster under Paulo Sousa that they were under Vincenzo Montella, although once again the timing could not be worse as Fiorentina's first place momentum is yet again halted. Nevertheless, the break allows us to see some of our players with important roles for their nations, and also allow us to complain as Borja Valero and Gonzalo Rodriguez continue to get snubbed.

World Cup qualifiers

Argentina

The struggling Albiceleste will play important qualifiers against a similarly struggling Brazil in addition to Colombia. Gerardo Martino has once again called up Facundo Roncaglia, who is rumored to start tonight against Brazil alongside Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, and Ramiro Funes Mori. Argentina are without Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez. Gonzalo Rodriguez, of course, remains out of the squad despite injuries to Pablo Zabaleta and Ezequiel Garay; the embattled Martino has instead selected Jonathan Maidana and Gino Peruzzi of River Plate and Boca Juniors respectively, if only to appeal to domestic fans.

Chile

The freshly renewed Matias Fernandez has been called up by Jorge Sampaoli's high flying Chile for qualifiers against Colombia and Uruguay, where he will likely be used as a substitute. Former Fiorentina player David Pizarro has not been called up.

Euro 2016 qualfiers

Slovenia

Slovenia has qualified for the European Championships qualifying playoffs, and will face Ukraine away on Saturday November 14, and at home on November 17. Josip Ilicic has of course been called up, and will be one of Slovenia's primary players.

Friendlies

Croatia

Ante Cacic's Croatia has qualfied for 2016, and will face Russia in a friendly next week as part of their preparation. Nikola Kalinic and Milan Badelj have both been called up; Ante Rebic has not.

Italy

Davide Astori is Antonio Conte's lone Fiorentina callup for Italy, who have qualified for Euro 2016. Italy has friendlies against Belgium and Romania.

Poland

Jakub Błaszczykowski remains Fiorentina's Polish representative, as Poland faces Iceland and the Czech Republic in friendlies. Poland has qualified for Euro 2016.

Romania

Romania, under coach Anghel Iordanescu, will return to the European championship in 2016, and face Italy next week in preparation. Ciprian Tatarusanu continues as Romania's number one goalkeeper.

Serbia

Serbia failed to qualify for Euro 2016 after a disastrous run, and will likely be looking to rebuild. For tomorrow's friendly against the Czech Republic however, Radovan Curcic is sticking with the status quo, which includes Nenad Tomovic.

Youth Teams

Italy U-21

Federico Bernardeschi remains a mainstay for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification, which includes matches against Serbia tomorrow and Lithuania next week.

Simone Minelli will captain the Italy U-19s against the Czech Republic. Federico Chiesa is also in the squad.

Cedric Gondo has been called up for the Cote d'Ivoire U23s.

Other news

Mario Gomez, who is still technically Fiorentina property, has been called up by Germany for friendlies against France and the Netherlands. Fiorentina loanees Joshua Brillante and Ianis Hagi have been called up by the Australia U-23s and Romania U-18s respectively.

As far as snubs go, besides the usual absence of Gonzalo Rodriguez and every one of our Spanish players (despite the emergence of thriving Spaniards in Serie A, only Alvaro Morata has been called up), Uruguay's Oscar Tabarez continues to ignore the existence of Matias Vecino, instead filling Uruguay's midfield exclusively with Latin America based players. Manuel Pasqual has not been called up for Italy, capping what has been an unfortunate week for him, neither has Giuseppi Rossi, although that is less surprising. Khouma Babacar continues to wait for his first cap for the Senegal senior team, who continue World Cup qualifying this week.