November Internationals: Two Brighton players DO know where the goal is
You might want to sit down before reading this. With so much being written about Brighton failing to take their chances in the 2020-21 season, two Albion players were on target for their countries in the first round of November internationals.
We will repeat that for you. Brighton own two players who actually know how to put the ball in the back of the net. The only problem – and there is always a snag – is that neither will be seen in an Albion shirt for a while yet as both are serving loan spells in Europe.
Jakub Molder was the first man on target as he scored his first international goal for Poland in their 2-0 friendly victory over Ukraine. Molder had only been introduced from the substitutes bench minutes before he smashed home from close range in a goalmouth scramble.
Molder’s strike was the latest landmark for one of the most highly rated young players in Poland. Brighton paid £9.5 million to Lech Poznan for the services of the 21-year-old in the summer, only to loan him back to Lech until January at least.
When Molder joins up with the Albion is seemingly dependant on how far Lech go in the Europa League. Should they be eliminated at the group stage, he could move to the Amex in two months time to give Graham Potter’s midfield options a boost. If Lech remain in the competition, then he will stay in Poznan for the season.
Rangers and Benfica look the most likely to progress from Group D with both having seven points on the board from three games. Lech have a solitary win with two of their three remaining fixtures on the road, so things look promising should the rumours about the Europe-dependent recall clause be true.
There are no prizes for guessing the identity of the second Brighton scorer in the November internationals. Future Ballon d’Or winner Percy Tau netted as South Africa beat the might of Sao Tome 2-0 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.
According to Wikipedia, Sao Tome is an island of 211,028 people. Needless to say, their football team had no answer to the Lion of Judah who earned and then converted a penalty early in the second half.
Tau has been in good form so far this season on loan at Anderlecht, scoring four times in 11 appearances as he continues his tour of Belgium whilst waiting to qualify for a British Work Permit.
Rather intriguingly, The Athletic revealed last month that the Albion had inserted a January recall clause into Tau’s loan deal. The hope is that the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union on December 31st might lead to a relaxation in the qualification rules for non-EU players. We can but pray this will be the case.
Also involved in the first round of November internationals were Jayson Molumby, Shane Duffy and Joel Veltman who all took part in friendlies.
Duffy captained the Republic of Ireland in their 3-0 defeat against England, suffering a testing time as he allowed Harry Maguire a free header on goal for the Three Lion’s opener on 18 minutes.
Molumby was a second half substitute at Wembley and looked tidy in his 20 minutes whilst Aaron Connolly was ruled out through an injury picked up in training.
Over in Amsterdam, Veltman partnered Manchester City’s Nathan Ake at centre back as the Netherlands drew 1-1 with Spain. It was a trademark solid-if-unspectacular showing from the £900,000 summer signing from Ajax.
At Under 21 level, Tariq Lamptey completed the 90 minutes for England who beat Andorra 3-1 at Molineux and Andi Zeqiri played for Switzerland as they squeezed past Azerbaijan 2-1 thanks to an injury time winner from substitute Filip Stojilkovic.
