November’s International Round Up: Part One
The big news from the first round of November’s international fixtures was that Steve Alzate made his senior debut for Colombia in Los Cafeteros’ 1-0 win over Ecuador.
Alzate replaced Juventus’ Juan Cuadrado for the final 15 minutes of the friendly action at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. He was one the pitch when Alfredo Morelos scored the only goal of the game with a neat finish from close range in the 93rd minute.
It completes quite the rise for Alzate. This time last year he was out on loan at Swindon Town, a spell in which he didn’t pull up too many trees in League Two.
He caught the eye of Graham Potter during the new Albion boss’ first pre-season in charge however and has been involved regularly in the first team ever since, signing a new four-year deal a couple of months ago.
Alzate made his Premier League debut in the 0-0 draw away at Newcastle in September. A string of impressive performances have followed with his versatility being the most striking aspect of his early Albion career.
So far, Alzate has played at right back, right wing back, as a holding midfielder and as an attacking central midfielder. For Colombia, he played as part of a midfield three after replacing Cuadrado.
Alzate only received his first call up for Colombia Under 23s in October, so for him to be earning a full cap within a month is quite something. He’s now expected to start in his nation’s next game against Peru on Wednesday night.
Maty Ryan and Aaron Mooy both played the full 90 minutes for Australia in their important 1-0 World Cup Qualifying win away in Jordan. Adam Taggart’s 13th-minute chip over home goalkeeper Amer Shafi after a beautiful through ball from Jackson Irvine was enough to ensure that the Socceroos moved seven points clear at the top of qualifying Group B.
Ryan played his part in securing the three points, making a stunning reaction stop from Hamza Aldaradreh’s point blank header with 10 minutes remaining. It was the best save involving an Albion player and Jordan since Shane Duffy decided to give Katie Price the elbow.
Tudor Baluta went from starting in front of a couple of hundred fans for the Albion’s Under 23s in a Paint Pot game two weeks ago to playing for Romania in their 2-0 Euro 2020 qualifying defeat at home to Sweden.
This was a game which made headlines for all the wrong reasons after Swedish striker Alexander Isak was racially abused by sections of the Romanian crowd.
As a result, Italian referee Daniele Orsato took the players off the pitch. The game was resumed around two minutes later after supporters had been warned about their conduct.
Marcus Berg and Robin Quaison had notched first half goals which guaranteed Sweden’s place at next summer’s finals. Baluta played the whole game for Romania in the middle of the park alongside Nicolae Stanciu.
