March Internationals: Trossard stars and Moder in his Skoda is off to Qatar
Two Brighton players had a particularly good time in the second round of March international matches. Jakub Moder and Poland booked their place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar whilst Leandro Trossard was man-of-the-match for Belgium.
Neither Moder nor Trossard has been in great form for the Albion during the recent six game losing run. Brighton fans will be hoping that success with their respective nations will see them return to the Amex with new-found confidence ready to end this barren sequence against struggling Norwich City at the weekend.
Moder completed the full 90 minutes as Poland overcame Sweden 2-0 in their playoff match in Warsaw. He was used as one of two central players in a midfield four alongside Jacek Goralski, occasionally getting forward in support of lone striker Robert Lewandowski.
It was the Bayern Munich talisman who opened the scoring from the penalty spot four minutes into the second half. Grzegorz Krychowiak went down in the box under a clumsy challenge from Jesper Karlstrom to present Lewandowski with an opportunity he was never going to miss.
Poland sewed things up when poor control from Sweden defender Marcus Danielson allowed Piotr Zielinski to gain possession, run at goal and double the advantage.
Moder can now start looking at how to drive his Skoda to Qatar, presuming he is selected by Poland. One man who did his own World Cup selection claims the world of good was Trossard as he starred in Belgium’s 3-0 friendly win over Burkina Faso.
Trossard found himself encouraged to do things that must have seemed strange to a player now conditioned in passing sideways at every opportunity, like run at opponents with the ball.
As a result, the Vampire of Genk scored once himself and claimed two assists. Starting on the left side of midfield, Trossard sent over the delivery from which Hans Vanaken headed Belgium into a 16th minute leader.
Two minutes later and Trossard himself slotted home. He then delivered another cross for the third and final goal, straight onto the head of Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke.
Andi Zeqiri played the last nine minutes for Switzerland in their 1-1 draw with Kosovo. It would have been an interesting experience for the forward, who was widely expected to play international football for Kosovo once his time with the Swiss Under 21 setup was at an end.
Instead, Zeqiri has committed his future to Switzerland, earning seven caps so far for the country he was born in rather than the nation of his parents.
He was not the only Kosovan-Swiss involved in the game. Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka captained Switzerland on what was his 100th appearance for the nation. Xhaka went onto produce a spectacular meltdown when he was subbed off after an hour.
None of the Albion’s other European representatives featured for their countries in the midweek round of internationals. Leo Ostigard sat on the bench as Norway hammered Armenia 9-0 and Robert Sanchez withdrew from the Spain squad with Covid-19.
The prospect of Jason Steele in goal against the Canaries should at least do something to alleviate the boredom there has permeated the Amex during recent home games.
Shane Duffy found himself rested as the Republic of Ireland beat Lithuania 1-0 via a 97th minute goal from Troy Parrott.
Hopefully, Duffy put his evening off to good use by winning money in a casino found via GambleMoose or drinking 10 pints of Guinness ahead of a crucial few months of Premier League fixtures.
Moder and Trossard will not be joined in Qatar by any of the Albion’s African contingent after Yves Bissouma and Mali failed to qualify.
Bissouma had been hoping to make history by helping his nation to the World Cup for the first time. He played for 73 minutes of Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw in Tunisia having completed the 90 when Mali were beaten 1-0 at home on Friday. That single goal proved enough to send Tunisia through over the course of two evenly contested legs.
Enock Mwepu meanwhile was denied the opportunity to get more minutes under his belt following his return from injury.
Zambia saw their trip to Guinea cancelled “due to an administrative problem encountered by the Zambian delegation”. You have to love African football.
Finally, there were concerning scenes in South America as Alexis Mac Allister left the World Cup qualifier between Ecuador and Argentina injured after 58 minutes.
Mac Allister was kicked on the knee by Allan Franco, who received a booking for his troubles. Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said afterwards: “I don’t know if the referee was permissive, what I do know is that it is unfortunate that the VAR has not called to review Mac Allister’s play.”
“I just saw the play and I reiterate that it’s unfortunate how it was handled. Alexis had his leg all marked by the blow.”
Mac Allister had himself been carded earlier. He and Franco were joined in the book by Moises Caicedo. The midfielder played the full 90 for Ecuador with Jeremy Sarmiento replacing Carlos Gruezo for the final 15 minutes.
Julian Alvarez gave Argentina a 1-0 lead with 24 minutes on the clock. It looked like that was how it would finish until the 93rd minute when Enner Valencia scored the rebound to make it 1-1 after missing an initial penalty.
With eight bookings and that late drama, those in attendance could have easily forgotten that it was a dead rubber with both nations having already guaranteed their places in Qatar next winter.
