March Internationals: Shock results and Sanchez raps
The March 2021 internationals break is turning into something of a disaster for Brighton players with some pretty shocking results in the second round of matches.
For Percy Tau and South Africa, a 2-0 defeat away in Sudan meant that Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the 2022 African Cup of Nations with their hosts pipping them to second spot in Group C.
South Africa made a terrible start, falling 1-0 behind to a Saifeldin Bakhit inside of five minutes. From that point on, it was a story that will have been all too familiar for Tau since joining Brighton as his team created a lot of chances but were unable to put any of them away.
On 32 minutes, Mohamed Abdel deepened Bafana’s problems by doubling Sudan’s lead on the counter attack. Tau’s outing came to an early conclusion as he was hauled with half an hour still to play.
The Lion of Judah’s substitution raised a few eyebrows as defender Sifiso Hlanti took his place. Why you would substitute a future Balon d’Or winner for a left back from Moroka Swallows when 2-0 behind in a must-win game is anyone’s guess.
Remarkably, South Africa missing out on AFCON was not even the worst result of the weekend. Step forward the Republic of Ireland, who were beaten 1-0 at home to Luxembourg to leave them facing an uphill struggle to make the 2022 World Cup after just 180 minutes of qualifying.
Republic boss Stephen Kenny did not name any of this three Brighton players in the starting line up. Jayson Molumby was introduced from the bench late on but Shane Duffy failed to get any game time for the second match running and Aaron Connolly missed out after picking up another injury in the first round of March internationals when the Boys in Green lost in Serbia.
Luxembourg might even have won by a greater margin were it not for the Republic’s debutant goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu. The teenager made a number of impressive stops over the 90 minutes having earned a call up following some impressive performances on loan at Rochdale from Manchester City this season.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s own former-Dale loanee Robert Sanchez continues to wait for his Spain debut in the March internationals. Sanchez did however make an appearance on Sergio Ramos’ Instagram story on Sunday night, standing on a table doing some sort of rap thing.
It was rather surreal seeing a Brighton goalkeeper appearing in a video filmed by one of the most decorated defenders in football history and a reminder of how far we have come from the days of Mark Walton and Nicky Rust.
Over in Prague and Leandro Trossard played for 34 minutes of Belgium’s 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic. The Premier League Player of the Month nominee replaced Dries Mertens with his side 1-0 behind. Within four minutes of Trossard entering proceedings, Kevin De Bruyne earned a penalty which was tucked away by Romelu Lukaku.
The only Brighton player involved in a win during the second round of March internationals was Joel Veltman, although ‘involved’ is a very loose term as he did not actually play.
Instead, Veltman had to settle for watching as an unused substitute as the Netherlands defeated Latvia 2-0 in front of 5,000 fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Steven Berghuis and Luuk de Jong were on target in match notable not only for the presence of supporters, but also because it became the first time a female referee had taken charge of a men’s World Cup qualifier.
Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappart was in the middle ahead of a tournament to be played in Qatar, a country not exactly known for its respect and openness of the fairer sex.
Jakub Moder also remained on the bench as Poland warmed up for their Wednesday trip to Wembley with an easy 3-0 win over Andorra. Robert Lewandowski scored twice, making it 10 consecutive games for club and country with a goal for the world’s best striker and Karol Swiderski added a third right at the death.
Lastly, Andi Zeqiri and Switzerland Under 21s suffered a 3-2 defeat against Croatia in their European Championship group stage clash. The Swiss trailed 3-0 when Zeqiri made way for Felix Mambimbi on 66 minutes and although a Kastriot Imeri penalty and an own goal in the final five minutes set up a nervy finale, Croatia just about held on.
The result means that England Under 21s hopes of making it through the summer’s quarter finals are now out of their hands. The Three Lions lost to Portugal having been beaten by Switzerland on Thursday as Aidy Boothroyd’s reign of terror continues.
