March Internationals: Trossard and Moder show Brighton can score goals
If the final round of March international matches were anything to go by, then Brighton & Hove Albion players can score actually score goals as both Leandro Trossard and Jakub Moder found the back of the net for their respective countries.
Moder made a little piece of history with his equaliser for Poland at Wembley, becoming the first ever Brighton player to score a goal against England.
The £9.5 million signing from Lech Poznan took advantage of some dreadful defending from John Stones (insert Lewis Dunk mention here) to rifle an emphatic effort past Nick Pope in the Three Lions goal and draw the Poles level with 58 minutes played.
Moder’s strike cancelled out Harry Kane’s opener, which had given England a deserved first half lead. It looked like the spoils would be shared up until the 85th minute when Harry Maguire hit a late winner, giving the hosts a 2-1 victory to make it three wins from three in World Cup Qualifying.
A good night for Brighton-supporting England fans then with Gareth Southgate’s side overcoming decent opponents and Moder getting on the scoresheet, offering another reminder of how far we have come in the past 25 years.
In the March international break of 1999, Paul Scholes scored a hat-trick as England defeated Poland 3-1 at the old Wembley. On the same day, Brighton were losing 1-0 against Barnet in a ‘home’ game at Gillingham.
The result left the Albion without a win in nine since Jeff Wood’s permanent appointment as manager and the Division Three relegation zone was creeping into view. Wood would be sacked 12 days later after further defeats to Mansfield Town and Cambridge United.
Had you said to any of the 2,353 hardy souls who trekked to the Priestfield Stadium for that Barnet match that 22 years later a Brighton player would be scoring for Poland against England, you would have been sent immediately to a secure psychiatric unit.
Equally unbelievable to a Seagulls supporter in 1999 as an Albion midfielder scoring against England would have been the prospect of a Brighton forward scoring twice for the team at the top of the FIFA World Rankings.
Step forward Trossard, who hit a brace in the Red Devils’ comfortable 8-0 win over Belarus. His first goal was reminiscent of the blockbusters he has netted in the Albion’s recent wins over Southampton and Newcastle United, lashed in with power and precision from outside the area.
That came in the 38th minute. Belgium were already 2-0 ahead at that point through Crystal Palace striker Michy Batshuayi and Hans Vanaken. Jeremy Doku added a fourth before half-time with Leicester’s Dennis Praet the fifth and another Palace player in Christian Benteke the sixth.
Trossard’s second of the evening and Belgium’s seventh came in the 75th minute with Vanaken completing the rout. Trossard now has two goals in six international appearances, leaving Roberto Martinez to sing his praises afterwards. Watch out Manchester United, the Vampire of Genk is coming for you next.
The Netherlands had a win nearly as big as Belgium, hammering Gibraltar 7-0. Joel Veltman had to settle for watching on from the bench as an unused substitute for the third international running.
Memphis Depay scored twice, alongside goals from Luuk de Jong, Georginio Wijnaldum and substitutes Donyell Malen and Donny van de Beek. Gibraltar had made it to half time trailing only 1-0 before the floodgates opened after the break.
Like Veltman, Robert Sanchez did not receive any game time during the March internationals. He was an unused substitute as Spain won 3-1 at home to Kosovo.
Jayson Molumby and Shane Duffy both started for the Republic of Ireland in their 1-1 friendly draw with the might of Qatar. Duffy played the entire 90 minutes whilst Molumby got through 84 before being replaced by Josh Cullen.
The Republic took the lead through James McClean with only four minutes played but Mohammed Muntari’s 47th minute leveller ensured that Ireland boss Stephen Kenny is still waiting for his first win in charge.
Finally, Andi Zeqiri did not feature for Switzerland Under 21s as they were beaten 3-0 by Portugal in their final group game of the European Championships.
The defeat meant that the Swiss failed to qualify for the knockout stages to be held in the summer, missing out on goal difference as Croatia joined Portugal in the last eight. England were also eliminated, although they no doubt would have won the whole thing had Tariq Lamptey been fit.
