Rotherham United’s Chiedozie Ogbene and Barnsley FC’s Callum Styles among big winners in international break

Many is the club – Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Rotherham United and Middlesbrough all instantly spring to mind – who looked as though they needed a couple of weeks to recharge their batteries after a hectic start to 2022, with a manic April to follow.

The problem is, not all of their players have got that opportunity.

But the fact is, international managers do need to spend some time with their players too.

If we want the World Cup to be a showcase for our best footballers, we cannot expect the teams to turn it on cold.

This month’s two friendlies – for those countries not still involved in World Cup qualification – are the last before squads for the tournament are named, even though it does not start until November.

This summer’s Nations League matches – four for England – are a halfway house but no club manager is going to be delighted by the thought of them either.

Still, if this was a normal summer – remember them? – many of those players would be in the thick of a World Cup anyway.

Quite apart from further draining them, any player picking up a serious injury would be an absolute nightmare for those clubs with something to play for next month, which is most of them. You can see it in the number of withdrawals from every country. But in some cases, international football can actually be a really positive thing.

As the season has become a slog, the likes of Rotherham’s Chiedozie Ogbene and Barnsley’s Callum Styles will have been pepped up by time representing their country.

Styles made a Hungary debut he must never have seen coming until enquiries were first made, and Ogbene scored a terrific goal – his third in six Republic of Ireland appearances – and produced a good assist too.

They will come back into club training later this week beaming.

The same will be true of Hull City’s Keane Lewis-Potter just for being involved in the England Under-21 set-up. It is just a pity injury prevented his former club-mate Jarrod Bowen pulling on the Three Lions for the first time – that would have been added inspiration for one of the Championship’s most exciting young talents.

Sheffield United’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Middlesbrough’s Folarin Balogun scored goals which should put more in mentally than the miles in the legs took out.

A select few, such as Huddersfield’s Chelsea loanee Levi Colwill, would have benefited from minutes having not had enough because of injury.

But more than anything, it divides the club seasons into sections and focuses minds on the last push, which starts this weekend.

Many Yorkshire clubs still have lots to play for.

Leeds United did a lot of the legwork in avoiding relegation from the Premier League in the last two dramatic matches before the break, but the job is not yet done.

Barnsley still have plenty to do, and the visit of Reading – the team one place and five points above them – is hugely important to their chances of staying out of League One.

Huddersfield, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough will all be looking to book places in the Championship play-offs.

Rotherham, who unlike their League One neighbours Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers had last weekend’s game called off because of international call-ups, were starting to look understandably weary. A Wembley cup final, in the Football League Trophy, should do them some good, as will Ogbene, returning with a spring in his step.

The coming weeks promise to be very important for all of them and whilst those nasty internationals will hamper some, it will benefit others.