Magic man Moder off to Euros but its deja vu for Dunk
The final round of international matches before squads are named for Euro 2024 have now been completed with mixed results for the Brighton contingent hoping to be in Germany this summer.
Where else can we start other than Lewis Dunk, who discovered first-hand just how ruthless playing for your country can be.
Cast your mind back to September and Dunk gave a masterclass for England against Scotland in only his second Three Lions appearance.
The general consensus was that Gareth Southgate would have to be clinically insane to partner any centre back other than Dunk with John Stones at the European Championships.
Dunk then went onto help England record a clean sheet in October’s 1-0 win over Australia. So far, so good. But fortunes and opinions change particularly quickly when it comes to international football.
A poor header from Dunk 13 minutes after his introduction as a substitute played a huge part in Endrick scoring the only goal of the game as Brazil won 1-0 at Wembley in the Three Lions’ first March international.
Worse was to come in the 2-2 draw with Belgium, when Dunk made a mess of clearing under pressure from Romelu Lukaku to be culpable of the second of the night scored by the visitors.
Watching that moment was to be overcome with a sense of deja vu, Dunk having also lost out to Lukaku in similar fashion when the powerful forward put Roma 2-0 ahead against Brighton at the Stadio Olimpico earlier in March.
In the eyes of the nation, Dunk has seemingly gone from diamond to donkey almost overnight judging on social media by the reaction to his two England performances.
Or as one Brighton supporter was overhead saying to a friend on the train out of London Victoria after the Belgium game: “Now I know what it feels like to be a Manchester United supporter trying to constantly defend Harry Maguire whilst the rest of England gets mad at him.”
With Southgate not exactly blessed with centre backs, Dunk should still make the squad for Germany. It will probably be as fourth choice though behind Stones, Maguire and *tin hat on* Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace.
Which might be no bad thing. The idea of Dunk making some sort of cock up in Berlin as England lose the Euro 2024 final to Germany is almost too much to bear.
Ah, Germany. Having been written off in most quarters ahead of hosting this summer’s tournament, Die Mannschaft appear to be finding some form at the right time.
An impressive 2-0 win away against World Cup runners up France was followed by a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands. Deniz Undav made his Germany debut as an 80th minute substitute in Lyon whilst Pascal Gross was introduced on the hour mark against the Dutch.
Julian Nagelsmann named the same starting XI for both matches, suggesting it will be his preferred line up going into the Euros. On that basis, Gross and Undav do not start.
Gross still seems likely to make the Germany squad, whilst Undav will be hard to ignore if he keeps scoring through what has been a goal-laden loan at Stuttgart from the Albion.
Facing Gross in Frankfurt was Bart Verbruggen, who made a number of important stops including when denying Bayern Munich winner Jamal Musiala twice late on.
Dutch manager Ronald Koeman confirmed late last year that Verbruggen was his number one, but that did not stop Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken starting when the Netherlands hammered Scotland 4-0 earlier in the international break.
It would be a shame for Verbruggen if he were to miss out on playing for the Dutch at Euro 2024 because of Roberto De Zerbi continuing to rotate his Brighton goalkeepers.
Billy Gilmour played an hour for Scotland against the Netherlands, followed by 70 minutes as the Tartan Army were beaten 1-0 at home to Northern Ireland.
Rather hilariously, Scotland are now winless in seven before heading to Germany this summer. Gilmour would appear a nailed-on starter for when Steve Clarke’s side open their campaign against the hosts in Munich on Friday 14th June.
The biggest Brighton success story of this round of internationals must though be Jakub Moder. The midfielder made his first appearance for Poland since recovering from his ACL injury, coming off the bench in a 5-1 Euro qualifiers win over Estonia.
Poland then followed that up by beating Wales on penalties to book their spot in Germany this summer. Moder may not have been involved against the Welsh, but what a moment for him given everything he has been through over the past two years.
Lastly, Evan Ferguson was not able to end his goal drought whilst on international duty as the Republic of Ireland drew blanks in both their matches.
A 0-0 stalemate with Belgium followed by a 1-0 defeat against Switzerland means John O’Shea is unlikely to land the Republic manager’s job on a full time basis.
The bookies’ favourite for the role is now Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named. Poyet is set to leave his position as Greece manager after losing in the Euro 2024 playoffs to Georgia.
Poyet said after defeat in Tbilisi: “Five more days, Now is not the time to talk about it, it’s the time to analyse what happened tonight. For me it was a privilege to be in this team but I don’t want to say anything about the future.”
The five more days comment is a reference to his Greece contract expiring on March 31st. It will be interesting to see how the Albion and their approved-journalists get around not daring to mention Poyet’s name should he end up as Ferguson’s international manager.
Ferguson squandered a big opportunity to stop his barren run of form, seeing an early penalty saved by Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels in the draw with Belgium.
He played for 70 minutes against the Red Devils and went onto complete the full 90 against Switzerland. No doubt that went down well with Roberto De Zerbi and the Albion.
