The next six months are going to be all about the World Cup with football cycle all over the place - The Warm-Up

FRIDAY'S BIG STORIES Here Come Spain… Almost Ad/> It's a World Cup year. But it's not a World Cup year yet. And one of the consequences of FIFA moving the World Cup to the winter is that this moment in the season, this little cluster of post-season internationals, seems both very important and yet not.

TransfersMata leaving Man Utd after eight years as Old Trafford clear-out continuesA DAY AGO Europe has the Nations League, which is supposed to be important in its own right. And yet the proximity of the World Cup means these are preparatory games in all but name. It's impossible to watch anything that's happening now and not think about what it will all mean for the big competition.

It's just that all those thoughts then come with the little caveat: "… in six months." For the teams themselves, this is mostly an advantage. Spain played Portugal last night — in fact, Spain more or less outplayed Portugal, in a tired, end of season sort of a way. And yet the game finished 1-1.

If the World Cup were mere days away, we'd be fretting about Spain's profligacy and forecasting bleak things for the knockout stages. As it is, they've got another six months to work on the eternal riddle of Álvaro Morata. On the other hand, there has to be a good chance that Gavi is the most energetic footballer in the world right now.

We'd suggest Luis Enrique bundle him up in bubble wrap for the next six months, but he'd only kick and chew his way out. When you look up «counter attack» in the dictionary, you don't get a picture of the goal he instigated last night. That's not how the dictionary works.