Five-a-side: How important are friendlies?

(CNN) -- No sooner have we waved goodbye to the Euro 2008 finals, then World Cup qualifiers are on our doorstep once again.

Nobody can seriously dispute the merits of either competition. Every two years we are privileged to watch the cream of European and world football battle it out for glory and when one competition ends -- the other is automatically lying in wait to pick up the international baton.

With the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union, the number of countries attempting to qualify for the final stages is growing year on year, with up to 14 matches sometimes needed over a two-year period to achieve qualification. As England proved in Euro 2008, reaching the finals of these tournaments is harder now than it has ever been.

With the top players also featuring in domestic league, cup and of course European club action as well, the recent round of international friendlies has once again provoked a debate about their importance within the football calendar.

So, with all this football currently being played, do friendly internationals still merit their place in the calendar?

The Fan Zone presents five reasons in favor of international friendly matches and five reasons against them. Let us know what you think below.

Yes

Preparation: The ultimate aim for national managers is to qualify for one of the two major tournaments available to him. The World Cup is open to every nation in the world, while each continent also has their own championships. Without friendlies how are these managers expected to try out new things, different players, different systems and ways of playing for these ultimate prizes. A new formation can look good in training, but seeing it in a proper 90-minute match is far more beneficial. Are we seriously expecting managers to go into these vital qualifiers without the benefit of knowing if their tactics will work in a matchday situation? Club football managers have a raft of pre-season friendlies to get their teams playing in a certain fashion, so international managers should be afforded the same preparation.

Experience: With leagues the world over being flooded by more and more overseas players, often talented younger players have a better chance of playing for their national team rather than their own club side. A perfect example of this was when then-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson selected teenager Theo Walcott in his 2006 World Cup finals squad before the Arsenal striker had actually made a first-team appearance for the Gunners. Newcomers to the international arena need to get a feel for their new surroundings and friendly matches are perfect for this. It gives managers an opportunity to blood-in new players and get them adapted to international football.

Honor: Any professional player will tell you that appearing for their country is the highlight of their footballing career. A player making their international debut will not care if it is a friendly match or a qualifier, the honor and pride of wearing his nation's jersey will be the overriding emotion. The term 'friendly' is also misleading. These matches are internationals and are opportunities for players to represent their country, there is nothing 'friendly' about them.

Exposure: Sometimes football transcends its role and becomes a vehicle for countries to face each other in the name of goodwill. For example, the world champions -- in this case Italy -- could travel to World Cup hosts South Africa to promote the tournament and gain experience of playing in a different continent. Countries from different parts of the world can only meet in the World Cup finals, and no international friendlies would prevent players experiencing different cultures. If Italy were drawn to face an African side in the World Cup finals, there is every chance they would want to line up a friendly against a different African nation prior to this, in order to get some experience of the type of players they will come up against.

Tradition: Friendly internationals have been played ever since football became a worldwide game. The first World Cup finals were not played until 1930 so, in essence, every international match prior to that was a 'friendly'. That is an awful lot of tradition and history to consign to the bin for the sake of maybe three to four matches a season. We have already seen other traditions in football bite the dust; cup replays, goalkeepers handling backpasses, referees wearing black, lets not lose any more.

No

Overkill: There is far, far too much football going on and, despite their high earnings, the top players are being expected to put their bodies on the line much more than they should be. In previous eras, friendly matches had an important place in the calendar. Finals of major competitions consisted of far fewer teams and qualification was simpler too. The European Championship finals used to have just eight countries involved, the winners of the eight qualifying groups. Now we have 16 teams, with the very real prospect that as many as 24 teams could contest the next finals in 2012. Meanwhile, club football now sees the European champions having to negotiate a minimum 13 games for victory, sometimes more if pre-qualifying is involved. Add in the domestic program of 34 to 38 games plus cup matches and it is hard to argue that football has overkill at the moment. In amongst all these high-profile matches, friendlies just do not fit in any more.

Injuries: With more and more matches being played, and at a higher intensity than ever before, it is only natural that players are becoming more and more susceptible to all forms of injury. Clubs have grown accustomed to releasing their players for qualifying games, and one of the drawbacks to having a load of international players in your ranks is knowing they will be called away on a regular basis. Injuries are part-and-parcel of football, but is it really fare to expect clubs to be paying big wages to players, only to see them getting injured in a match where the result has no significant meaning. Ask Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, who has just lost Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar for three months due to an ankle injury he sustained in a recent friendly, what he thinks about them.

Competitiveness: Often an international manager will say: "The performance was more important than the result," following a friendly defeat. This indicates that the match result has little or no importance. How can that be right?. Highly- trained and well-paid players should not be expected to be playing in matches were the result has no importance. Football should be competitive, but many friendly matches are played with neither team caring about the result.

Significance: With so many important matches being played all over the world, how significant have friendly internationals become to the modern day player? Of course it is still an honor to represent your country at any level but, in truth, there are now much bigger fish to fry both in international and domestic football. Is it really more significant to play for your country in a friendly, or to play for your club side in the Champions League? There is an argument in some quarters that club football has overtaken international football at all levels, not just with friendly matches. Certainly the countinued exposure of the Champions League as well as the English Premier League and Spanish Primera Liga is threatening to render international football as a mere sideshow.

Clubs: This is a real chicken-and-egg scenario and there appears to be no easy answer to the club v country debate. As the wage-payers, clubs naturally believe they should have a say in what happens with their employees. They are obliged under FIFA and UEFA regulations to release players for competitive international matches. However, as friendlies are non-competitive, it creates a scenario where clubs become reluctant to let their players leave. Although they stop short of preventing them from joining up with their compatriots, its more than just coincidence that many a player's phantom injury that prevents him from appearing for his country, miraculously clears up in time for his club's weekend fixture. The removal of friendly matches will mean the clubs will become more sympathetic to their national federation's demands. .