Estupinan and Mitoma show different sides on international duty
The March 2023 international break finished with both Pervis Estupinan and Kaoru Mitoma in the goals and showing sides to their games Brighton fans do not always see in the Premier League.
The duo were involved in friendly matches for Ecuador and Japan respectively, scoring for their country and thankfully avoiding the sort of injury problem which Jeremy Sarmiento picked up a few days earlier.
Read on for our second attempt at keeping up with some of the 28 Albion players to have been away with their nations this past week.
Captain, midfielder, penalty taker
We start with Estupinan, the quiET and understated Brighton left back who has never taken a penalty before for the Albion – including when the Seagulls rattled through seven spot kicks (missing four) in their Carabao Cup cock up at Charlton Athletic in December.
Estupinan found himself wearing the captain’s armband, playing in midfield and scoring a penalty as Ecuador won their second match of the international break against Australia 2-1 in Melbourne.
The Socceroos had won Friday’s meeting 3-1 in Sydney but boss Graham Arnold named a much younger, inexperienced team this time around. That meant no Maty Ryan with a debut for highly-rated Adelaide United goalkeeper Joe Gauci.
Estupinan beat Gauci from 12 yards with a confidently despatched spot kick on 51 minutes to level the game after Kevin Rodriguez was brought down in the box by Thomas Deng.
Australia had taken a 17th minute lead when Brandon Borrello put away the rebound from a Craig Goodwin effort which cannoned back off the bar.
Ecuador netted what proved to be the winner when William Pacho powered home a header from a corner just past the hour mark.
Estupinan was joined in the middle of the park by Moises Caicedo. La Tri were far more physical than they had been at the World Cup and that manifested itself in yellow cards for both Brighton players.
More concerning than those bookings for Roberto De Zerbi would have been Estupinan and Caicedo both playing the full 90 minutes ahead of a packed schedule of Premier League and FA Cup action, not to mention the small matter of a 24 hour flight back to England.
De Zerbi has been quite shrewd in his game time management since the turn of the year, rotating defenders like Adam Webster and Joel Veltman and even substituting Lewis Dunk when the opportunity has arisen.
It will be interesting to see how he treats Estupinan and Caicedo on their returns after 180 minutes of football and two long-haul flights to the other side of the world.
Mitoma as good in the air as he is on the ground
The side of Mitoma’s game which is perhaps not appreciated as much as it should be is his aerial ability. He showed that in all its glory with a stunning header just three minutes into Japan’s 2-1 defeat against Colombia.
When Mitoma is discussed, most of the talk is understandably on his talent when it comes to running with the ball. After all, he has written a university thesis on dribbling.
But the Japanese Bullet Train is deceptively good in the air. His first Brighton goal came via a header in November’s 3-2 win at Wolves, something which Mitoma himself admitted to being surprised about.
There should be no further shock if he keeps scoring with his head in the remaining two months of the season. Mitoma outjumped Colombia defender Camilo Vargas to give his side the lead in Osaka with his sixth international goal since the start of 2022.
No-one has scored more for Japan in that timeframe – and that is despite Mitoma only starting six of the 20 games the Samurai Blue have played. A phenomenal record for a bloke who is going to surely attract a lot of attention this summer.
Unfortunately, this latest goal counted for nothing. Colombia equalised against the run of play through Jhon Duran with 12 minutes of the first half remaining.
That set the stage for Rafael Santos Borre to secure victory for the visitors with a stunning overhead kick on 61 minutes from a ball which looped into the air after Japan goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt had kept out an effort from Arias.
Unlike Estupinan and Caicedo, Mitoma did at least get something of a rest. He was withdrawn nine minutes into the second half.
Seventh heaven for Alexis Mac Allister and Argentina
Argentina ran out easy 7-0 winners in a friendly over Curacao, whose footballing pedigree is such that they count Kemy Agustien amongst their international players.
Unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi was the star of the show with a hat-trick which took him beyond 100 goals for Argentina.
Alexis Mac Allister departed the action with 50 minutes played and his side already 5-0 up. Between the 20th and 37th minutes, Messi scored three times and assisted Enzo Fernandez in a blistering spell of football to which the tiny Dutch Caribbean island had no answer.
Praise for Evan Ferguson from Kylian Mbappe
Four months after scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup final, France forward Kylian Mbappe found himself singing the praises of Evan Ferguson as the World Cup runners up prepared to take on the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
Ferguson scored his first international goal on Thursday when the Republic beat Latvia 3-2 in a friendly. Mbappe said of the Albion teenager: “He’s a good striker, an important striker for that team.”
“We’ve seen some clips about him, of course. But we hope tomorrow he’s going to do nothing and that means we are going to win and we’re going to do our job. But he is a good player.”
That France did win 1-0 was largely down to their goalkeeper, Mike Maignan. The AC Milan number one made a series of impressive saves as the game wore on, although none from Ferguson who was well marshalled by Les Bleus’ defence before being substituted on 65 minutes.
The only goal of the game came via a mistake from the Republic. An attempted pass out of defence from Josh Cullen was intercepted by Benjamin Pavard, who took ruthless advantage by lashing home via the underside of the crossbar five minutes into the second half.
Levi Colwill shines for England Under 21s
Not all England managers have a phobia of selecting anyone from Brighton. Whilst Lewis Dunk and Solly March missed out on the senior squad, Levi Colwill has been on Under 21s duty and earned rave reviews as the Three Lions hammered France 4-0 on Saturday.
The scoreline might suggest this was a routine England WIN, but it was anything but. France were arguably the better side for much of the opening hour with Colwill excelling in a defence that did a superb job at keeping the visitors out.
Colwill started as the left sided centre back. Much of the praise focussed on his passing range and ability on the ball, two traits Brighton fans have very much enjoyed him displaying at the Amex this season.
Emile Smith Rowe gave England the lead against the run of play with 50 minutes gone. Three further goals arrived in the final quarter hour from Noni Madueke, Curtis Jones and Jacob Ramsey.
Colwill has been tipped for a call up by Gareth Southgate before the end of the year. His immediate future remains unclear but with Chelsea having signed a million players for half a billion pounds in six months, he faces a congested route to first team football at Stamford Bridge.
If there is even the slightest possibility that the Blues need to sell Colwill this summer or the player wants to leave for the good of his career, Brighton should be all over it. Colwill is going to be a star in the not-too-distant future.
Julio Enciso gets minutes in feisty affair
The lesser spotted Julio Enciso got some minutes under his belt, starting for Paraguay in a feisty and eventful 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chile.
Enciso was deployed as a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1, playing 78 minutes before being replaced by Jesus Medina.
Chile took a 25th minute lead through Paulo Diaz but Paraguay were ahead before the end of the first half, Matias Rojas and Gabriel Avalos turning the game on its head with two goals in the space of as many minutes.
Alexis Sanchez equalised for Chile two minutes before Enciso departed the action, sparking a quite incredible final 10.
Diaz completed a memorable occasion by picking up a red card to go with his goal with Paraguay midfielder Ramon Sosa joining him in having an early bath from the same incident.
Paraguay goalkeeper Anthony Silva then scored an own goal in the final seconds to hand Chile victory. South American football is bloody mad.
