Four Albion players, one September international
Four Brighton players, one September international. No, this is not some remake of a video that went viral on the internet in 2007 but is in fact what happened at the Merkur Spielarena in Dusseldorf as the final round of internationals before the 2022 World Cup took place.
Kaoru Mitoma and his Japanese teammates took on the Ecuador ensemble of Moises Caicedo, Pervis Estupinan and Jeremy Sarmiento. With so many Albion players involved, what do you imagine the final score was? Take 10 points if you said 0-0.
Mitoma played for 66 minutes as the left sided attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Both Caicedo and Estupinan completed the 90 with Estupinan wearing the number seven shirt at left back.
Sarmiento was a half time introduction for Ecuador, playing his first competitive minutes since he suffered his latest injury setback.
Unsurprisingly given the result, there was not very much entertainment on show. Estupinan was involved in one of the few talking points, repeating his party trick we saw against The Leeds United and Fulham of passing the ball straight to the opposition.
Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi was the lucky recipient. Furuhashi was though denied by Ecuador goalkeeper Hernan Galindez, who Estupinan presumably had to buy a few pints of Pilsener afterwards for sparing his blushes.
Ecuador passed up a golden opportunity to win it with eight minutes remaining when Michael Estrada was brought down in the area by Shogo Taniguchi. A poor penalty from Ener Valencia was saved by Daniel Schmidt in the Japan goal.
The question that you probably want answering at this point is have four Brighton players ever played in the same international before?
Unfortunately, we do not have the answer. If you happen to know, drop us an email and we will send a picture of Mark McGhee in the post or something.
Concerning injury news otherwise dominated the second round of September international matches from a Brighton point of view.
Tariq Lamptey missed Ghana beating Nicaragua 1-0. The in-depth medical reason given by Black Stars boss Otto Addo for Lamptey’s absence was that the right back “felt something” in training.
Whether that something was a slight twinge or a broken leg, any injury could not have come at a worse time for Lamptey with new Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi assessing the squad.
Lamptey might have been one of the big winners under De Zerbi’s management. The Italian has preferred a back four through most of his career.
If he continues that at the Albion, then Lamptey could reasonably have expected to overtake Solly March in the pecking order. March is very much a wing back rather than an orthodox right back.
Lamptey feeling something paled into comparison to what happened to Enock Mwepu. The Zambia captain missed his nation’s game with Mali on Friday with it later being revealed that he had been sent for medical tests after feeling unwell.
Mwepu spent four days in hospital before flying home on Sunday night for further treatment in the United Kingdom. Leicester City striker Patson Daka fell ill shortly after Mwepu.
The BBC was reporting on Monday that it remained unclear whether either would be well enough to return to action when the Premier League resumes at the weekend.
Julio Enciso produced some nice moments as Paraguay drew 0-0 with Morocco in Seville. Enciso completed 84 minutes, which can only be a good thing from an Albion point of view as he was yet to receive a second of league football for Brighton under Graham Potter.
It was not all goalless draws for South American Brighton representatives playing in a September international. Argentina continued their formidable form heading into Qatar by beating Jamaica 3-0 without every needing to get out of second gear.
Alexis Mac Allister started the game in New Jersey, completing 71 minutes before being replaced by Rodrigo De Paul. It was 1-0 when Mac Allister departed, after which substitute Lionel Messi scored twice in the final 10.
One was a brilliant individual goal after dancing around a series of hapless Jamaicans. The other was a beautiful free kick which Messi had won himself after being tripped just outside the area.
The goal which arrived with Mac Allister on the pitch was scored by Julian Alvarez following a driving run by Lautaro Martinez.
In the Nations League, the Albion’s £9 million deadline day signing Billy Gilmour did not feature in any of Scotland’s September matches.
From three games, the Tartan Army beat and drew against Ukraine and were victorious over Republic of Ireland to earn promotion to the top tier. The less said about Scotland going up at the same time as England are relegated, the better.
Leandro Trossard replaced Eden Hazard after 64 minutes of Belgium’s game against the Netherlands in Amsterdam but he was unable to make much difference as the Red Devils were beaten 1-0.
Virgil van Dijk got the only goal to send the Netherlands into the finals. For Belgium, it was the first time in 50 matches they had failed to score.
Spain have also qualified for the Nations League finals. A 1-0 win over Portugal in Braga thanks to Alvaro Morata’s 88th minute winner was enough to see Robert Sanchez and co leapfrog their hosts at the top of the table. Sanchez was an unused substitute.
