September’s Albion International Round Up: Part One
Eight Brighton and Hove Albion players were in action in the first round of September’s international matches, with only two tasting victory.
One of those was Davy Propper, with the midfielder being introduced at half time of the Netherlands 2-1 friendly win over Peru.
The Netherlands had been trailing 1-0 at the break to Pedro Aquino’s 13th minute opener but Propper’s introduction coincided with a second half comeback in which Memphis Depay scored twice to win the game for Oranje in what was Wesley Sneijder’s final Netherlands appearance.
Shane Duffy played 90 minutes as part of the Republic of Ireland’s defence that shipped four times away in Wales. There was little that Duffy could do to stop a thunderbolt of a goal from Gareth Ball with Tom Lawrence, Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts also on target in Ryan Giggs’ first competitive game in charge of the Welsh.
Shaun Williams netted a late consolation for the Irish but this was a feeble showing from Duffy and his team mates. Especially when you consider that the last time they played at Cardiff City Stadium a year ago, they ground out a 1-0 win to secure a World Cup Finals play off spot.
Hopefully, Duffy fares better on his next visit to the most originally named stadium in Britain when the Albion travel there to take on Cardiff in November in a game that will be screened live on television.
The Albion’s Israeli men (hallelujah) went down 1-0 away to Albania in their first Nations League game with Beram Kayal starting as part of the visitors midfield three and Tomer Hemed appearing as a 47th minute substitute.
Brighton’s other international winner was Leon Balogun who played 90 minutes as Nigeria won their African Cup of Nations qualifier 3-0 away at the Seychelles through goals from Ahmed Musa, Chidozie Awaziem and Odion Ighalo in an.
The Seychelles had seemingly managed the impossible by producing an uneven and difficult artificial pitch and that caused Balogun’s defensive partner Kenneth Omeruo a world of issues. Thankfully for him, Balogun was his normal assured self to help the Super Eagles to a clean sheet.
Gaetan Bong’s return to international duty for Cameroon didn’t go entirely well. He started at left back but failed to effectively track the run of El Fardou Ben Nabouhane who gave the might of Comoros a 1-0 lead as a result.
Stéphane Bahoken’s 80th minute equaliser eventually rescued a 1-1 draw for the reigning African Cup of Nations Champions and while we’re no African football experts, failing to win against an island that sounds like something from a C.S. Lewis novel doesn’t sound like a particularly good result.
As reigning title holders, Cameroon qualify automatically for next summers Cup of Nations so this was in effect a friendly but even so if you like gambling on sports, we wouldn’t recommend rushing in to bet on Cameroon retaining their title based on this
With Percy Tau’s chances of getting a work permit dependent on helping South Africa climb up the FIFA World Rankings, it was a disappointing result for Bafana Bafana as they drew 0-0 with Libya.
South Africa were indebted to Itumeleng Khune for a string of first half saves that kept them in the game at Moses Mabhida Stadium as their qualification campaign continues to stutter along.
