The latest international break gave Derby County another chance to review their injury and fitness situation, with a friendly match in Holland helping to keep available players up to match-fitness.

There was plenty of international action around the world, with friendly games and crucial World Cup qualification play-off fixtures and on the domestic front, prospects of league restructuring were again discussed by Premier League Chairmen.

The Rams dropped a place in the table to 18th position on Monday; Barnsley overtook them due to their point gained from a 2-2 draw with Sheffield United and the Tykes have a superior goal difference to Derby.

There was reported interest from Bolton Wanderers in young Everton striker James Vaughan, now back at Everton after his loan spell at Derby was curtailed last month due to injury. Rams’ boss Nigel Clough still anticipates that Vaughan will return on loan to Derby County in January but a reported £3m valuation from Bolton would put a different complexion on the matter.

Promising player that Vaughan is, it is sobering to record that an as yet unproven youngster with a bit of an injury history behind him would already command such a price in the transfer market. Clough will have to sit and wait to see if a cash deal for Vaughan is struck by Bolton.

Nigel Clough took his squad to play ADO Den Haag in midweek, at their new 15,000-seat Stadion in The Hague the trip out proving eventful as Robbie Savage picked up his wife’s passport by mistake (apparently she has long daft blonde hair, too!) He had to scoot home and then make his way on his own, arriving as the game kicked off.

Lee Croft also managed to pick up something other than his passport on the way out of his house - he was about to attempt to travel with a games console pack instead of a passport and so also had to retrieve his correct documentation; it’s such a complex life being a footballer!

Den Haag are fourth bottom of the Eredivisie, Holland’s premier league and they came into the friendly game on the back of a 5-1 hammering at home from PSV Eindhoven.

Clough left recent illness victim Rob Hulse at home. The manager was able to give midfielder Paul Green another half-game to help his match-fitness after his long absence with a broken foot and man-in-the-mask Jay McEveley put in a full game on his comeback. Robbie Savage replaced Green at half time.

The game itself was competitive and ended in a narrow defeat for Derby, the Rams losing to a late second half goal from Yuri Cornelisse, who netted from a low cross after 73 minutes. Derby lacked punch and pace, despite Dickov’s usual tenacious graft up front; the Leicester loanee hit a post in the first half in Derby’s closest effort.

Derby drafted in young strikers Mills and Mendy as substitutes late in the game with other first team strikers still on the injury list. Lee Croft and Bryan Hughes into the action and Miles Addison impressed as he continued his build up from injury, partnering Dean Leacock in central defence. Clough was happy with the exercise and concurred with other observers that ADO’s winning goal was offside.

The showpiece international of the weekend was the Brazil vs. England friendly in Qatar. It was staged at that centre of world football due to England’s obligations to Brazil (who opened the new Wembley Stadium); the oil-rich Middle-Eastern state is where the TV money came from to host the game. Qatar also has strong Olympics 2018 and World Cup 2022 bids under way.

A top match between two of the game’s greatest rivals was their chance to demonstrate their credentials - and the 48,000-seat Kalifa Stadium in Doha was an impressive setting for the game. The English FA no doubt also hoped that the high-profile game would assist them in recruiting Qatar’s votes in favour of England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

Fabio Capello had Clough-like injury problems with a dozen players unavailable to him for the game. Brazil are somewhat more prosaic and disciplined under Dunga than the previous sumptuous incarnations of the South American maestros but are still the World Cup favourites.

They had too much style and quality for England as the Three Lions laboured to make any headway in attack and were often out-skilled in other areas of the park. The game was settled right after the break when England’s sleepy centre-backs, Brown and Upson allowed Nilmar to slip their attention to steal between them and head in a precise long ball from Elano.  England created only half-chances and the Brazilians always looked more likely to add to their only goal.

Brazil managed to waste a penalty as well as seeing Lucio slap the post with a fearsome left-foot drive. Only James Milner and goalkeeper Ben Foster enhanced their chances for selection in Cappello’s final South Africa 2010 squad in a depleted squad playing in hot, humid conditions. “Brazil were the better team and deserved to win”, said England captain Wayne Rooney, which seemed to sum up the display adequately enough. Ex-Rams teenage prodigy Tom Huddlestone came on for a first England appearance in the closing stages of the match.

The prospect of Celtic and Rangers gate-crashing the English Premier League got another airing this week. Like Scudamore’s abortive ‘Game 39’ which proposes to stage competitive EPL games in neutral overseas locations for television revenues, many fans oppose the idea of admitting the Scottish Old Firm to England, which raises the possibility of the Scots cruising past the majority of Football League clubs without even competing for the right to promotion.

They looked to join the English elite instead of remaining in their own moribund Premier League north of the border; of course that’s motivated by the much bigger TV revenues paid to English top-flight clubs compared to the meagre SPL deals. The prospect of a two-tier EPL - the Scottish integration being proposed by Bolton chairman - may have seen the Championship being re-named as Division Two.

Substantial but lowly-placed clubs like Derby, the Sheffield clubs, Dirty Leeds and others would be part of a new structure with inclusion based upon stadium capacity, support and revenue scales; the Scots would start off in (the new) EPL Division Two. It certainly would not suit some English clubs for The Old Firm to displace them from the chase for top-flight status at the stroke of a pen from Premier League chairmen.

Hey - there are Welsh clubs already in the Football League, some will say! Of course, three Welsh clubs have had long-standing participation in the English pyramid - and they have always been subject to the normal promotion and relegation rules throughout their histories.

Swansea City joined the football League in 1920, eventually ascending to the ‘old’ top flight, Division One for a couple of years in the 1980s. Cardiff City are the only non-English side to  win one of the major domestic trophies (the FA Cup in 1927) and have spent more years in the top flight than the Swans. Like Swansea, the Bluebirds also joined the football League in 1920.

Wrexham were formed way back in 1872 as an offshoot of the cricket club and joined the League’s Third Division North in 1921 and have had more FA Cup giant killing success than much joy towards the top two English divisions, including a 1981 third round victory over Brian Clough’s Nothingham Forest.

Wrexham fell out of the Football League in 2007-08 after 87 consecutive League seasons and currently play in the Blue Square Premier. They enjoyed 1980s participation in the European Cup Winner’s Cup by dint of their success in the Welsh Cup.

The proposal (from Bolton’s chairman, Phil Gartside) failed to win support. So apart from the Scots’ elimination from the World Cup during the qualifying rounds it was a case of ‘you ain’t going nowhere’ with any Scottish designs on jumping the ladder to Premier League riches being frustrated again, at least for the time being.

Given Bolton’s precarious status, it seemed like a turkey voting for Christmas; the two biggest Scottish clubs (as well as better-supported Championship clubs like Derby, Sheffield United, Newcastle and others) could arguably be better placed to sustain Premier League life than the Wanderers.

No doubt TV money will talk and some form of restructure will be proposed again in time, unless a European League is proposed that the Glasgow giants would seek to join.

Ex-Rams’ boss George Burley was reeling on Saturday after his Scotland side put on a feeble display, humbled 3-0 by Wales. The Welshmen are rebuilding under John Toshack and have some promising young talent emerging, including Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal, who tormented the Scots, scoring once and setting up the other goals.

The paucity of the Scottish squad was exposed again, even though neither country can look forward to the 2010 World Cup. Burley is under pressure after the poor performance and Scottish football reached a dead end on that showing right after the Scots’ World Cup exit. Sacking the coach however won’t cure the underlying weaknesses of the Scottish game or alter the Old Firm domination of a processional Scottish Premier League.

Perhaps the big Scottish clubs should take more responsibility for the development of young players and their national side’ progress, partly by restricting ‘foreign imports’ in order to improve matters back home. They urgently need to upgrade the quality of their homegrown players and improve their international standings rather than abandoning their own domestic structure to cash in across the border through joining the EPL.

The valiant Republic of Ireland lost 0-1 to France in the first leg of their crucial World Cup play-off against France and their prospects of accompanying England to South Africa have diminished.

Other crucial competitive games around the world saw New Zealand, Nigeria and Cameroon all qualify for South Africa 2010. Russia, Portugal and Greece - like the Republic of Ireland - still have their play-off second legs to contest in order to qualify.

Well it’s back to the realities of English League life for Derby County next week as they endeavour to improve their dreadful away form at Swansea City. Clough may have further selection choices from an easing injury situation - let’s hope the replenished squad can bring back a point or three from Wales.

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In RamsWeek 46 last year saw Derby make progress in the League Cup and Championship. They disposed of Leeds United in the 4th Round of the Carling Cup but not before a fight from the third division outfit. Emanuel Villa gave Derby an early lead in a brisk start and they were 2-0 up when Ellington finished off a fine move.

The rest of the game was an anti-climax as Leeds fought back to 2-1 and then had the better of the second half but the main outcome was the Rams’ place in the quarterfinal.

That weekend saw Sheffield Wednesday visit Pride Park Stadium and they were comprehensively vanquished as the Rams ran out 3-0 winners. Kris Commons scored his first home goal for Derby on 31 minutes as Derby ran the show - and Miles Addison crashed in his first-ever Derby County goal in the second half.

There was still time for a spectacular Jordan Stewart 25-yard piledriver and Owls’ boss Brian Laws admitted that his team had been well beaten as Derby consolidated their mid-table position.

Photo: Action Images

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