I get that some people hate VAR, either because they're philosophically opposed to it (which I can respect, while disagreeing) or because they're infuriated by its implementation (whether it's offsides or handball or whatever). But that ship has sailed. VAR will be at the World Cup. We see VAR every week in most European leagues. It was designed to wipe out the most grotesque errors -- like this one. And it does a pretty good job at it.

Oh, and while we're at it, let's not get on our high horse about Ronaldo throwing the captain's armband and being disrespectful. It's a piece of cloth that fits around his bicep, not some holy artifact. As my colleague Steve Nicol pointed out on the ESPN FC show, if he'd had anything else on him that he could throw, he would have thrown that. You can criticise Ronaldo for many things if you so choose, but not being attached to his country or his role as captain isn't one of them.

... but Portugal have plenty to figure out

Ronaldo's goal should have stood, but Fernando Santos can't be happy with the way Portugal raced to a 2-0 lead and then crumbled in the second half. They didn't just concede twice; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic came very close to scoring as well, and Anthony Lopes needed a minor miracle to keep out Dusan Tadic. Meanwhile winger Nemanja Radonjic, who came on at half-time, was ripping them to shreds.

This is a very talented Portugal side, but the balance doesn't seem to be there yet. Playing Ronaldo as a lone striker -- even with Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Bruno Fernandes in support -- simply won't get the best out of him, as we've seen with Juventus. There has to be a way to get Andre Silva on the pitch on the pitch going forward, even if it means sacrificing an attacking midfielder.

Kane guides mature England to another win in World Cup qualifying

It wasn't long ago that you could easily imagine an England side freezing up in a match like Sunday's, when they took on minnows Albania in Tirana. Edy Reja's theoretical 3-4-3 was more of a 5-4-1 as they tidily clogged spaces and happily left England a ton of sterile possession. They even gave them a scare on the counterattack.

Then came Harry Kane's header and everything changed in the second half as Gareth Southgate's crew rolled to a 2-0 win. They looked like a mature, confident team, well aware of their weaknesses (neither Kalvin Philips nor Declan Rice will be mistaken for Kevin De Bruyne any time soon, which means you probably won't get them playing a killer through-ball from midfield) but also their strengths: they can physically outlast opponents, and they can use the space in wide areas well to set up Kane.

The win relieves some pressure ahead of Wednesday's game against Poland, which will be without Robert Lewandowski.

Germany far better than scoreline suggests, but they nearly threw it away

All eyes were on Jogi Low's Germany side, ahead of his departure after the Euros, as they played Romania on Sunday.

If you insist on Jogi-hating, you'll focus on the fact that this game could easily have ended in a draw following a boneheaded giveaway from Leroy Sane in the final minutes. But that would be reductive. Germany dominated and created plenty of chances, despite lacking a natural center-forward. (Then again, when Serge Gnabry plays like this, he does virtually everything you want a modern striker to do.)

That midfield trio of Ilkay Gundogan, Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich will not only boss most games in possession, but they provide the perfect "second layer" for the pressing done by the front three. They could have scored more, and had they done so, Sane's error at the end wouldn't have given them such a fright. They'll want to improve in one of those two areas: either capitalising better on chances or cutting out the gifts to the opposition.

At this stage, you just want to get through it

National team coaches always want more time with their players, but obviously, it's the clubs that pay the bills. Under normal circumstances, an international break is suboptimal, but it still gives you some opportunity to work. The players get together on a Monday, and you generally get a solid seven days together at least. You play two games, and when you're not playing, you bond, you build chemistry and you try to define your identity.

Of course, that's out the window given the ongoing pandemic. In South America, they called off the World Cup qualifiers altogether. In Europe, they've had to shoehorn three games into eight days, with travel in between. And what's more, they've had to do it in the midst of the most congested and energy-sapping campaign in history, with clubs looking over their shoulder and begging them not to send players back with injuries.

That's why, for example, Italy boss Roberto Mancini called up no fewer than 38 players for this break. He started with a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland and made six changes for the next game, a 2-0 win over Bulgaria. Lithuania are up next on Wednesday, and you can probably expect another six changes there.

It's pretty much the same story for every bigger nation, from France to England to Spain. You give players a run out, and you get points in the bag. You know this is not the time to work on tactics or even experiment. You just want to get through it without incident and hope that guys feel a part of it. But in terms of planning -- whether long-term or even just for the Euros this summer -- this isn't it.

It's like a trip to the DMV to renew your drivers' licence: you need to fill out your forms, you have to make sure you have your supporting documents and it's something you need to do, but you're not going to learn anything. And it won't be much fun.