A week of international friendlies wouldn’t normally be the most exciting seven days in football, but with only 100 days left to the World Cup, and with plenty of questions still remaining about what players will be travelling to South Africa this summer, there was plenty of intrigue in this week’s action. A blog dedicated to this summer’s tournament, Kwaitoball take a look at all of this week’s friendlies in this brief but succint post. Not so sure about the idea that Wes Brown had a bad game though!

Of course, any thoughts on this summer’s action will also be considering a World Cup song for England. Here at Umbro, we’ll probably be looking at this nearer the time, but Football & Music have entered the fray with a competition to find their favourite. They’re going to be posting potential England anthems on their site on a regular basis, with the audience invited to vote for their favourite to progress to a later round. You can check out the first two candidates – ‘God Save The Team’ and ‘From England With Love’ – on the site now.

One story that was a little overshadowed by the friendlies and other stories this week was the untimely passing of Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander. When Saturday Comes, always a publication that sees the real sport underneath all the soap opera-style nonsense, offered a typically insightful obituary on a man who was tremendously well-respected throughout football. You can read it here.

As the BBC’s man of the lower leagues, Paul Fletcher can always be relied on to provide some insight into life outside the Premier League, and his latest look at League One is an interesting one. Here, he takes a closer look at the teams pushing for promotion, with a focus on in-form Southampton as they push for a play-off place. Having started the season with a 10 point penalty, it would be amazing if Southampton started next season in the same league as their old rivals Portsmouth.

Finally this week, we return to the World Cup, or rather using the fact that it’s now less than 100 days away as an excuse to ramp up the excitement. Who Ate All The Pies are using the occasion to showcase 100 fantastic pictures from past tournaments. You can check out Parts 1 and 2 here, and keep your eyes peeled for later instalments.