September’s Albion International Round Up: Part Two
Only one Brighton and Hove Albion player tasted victory in the midweek round of international games as Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s Iran won 1-0 away in Uzbekistan.
The Albion’s record signing played the first 45 minutes in the friendly at the Milliy Stadium before being replaced by Mehdi Tarem at half time.
Iran’s winner arrived 22 minutes into the second half and was scored by Mehdi Torabi as Carlos Queiroz took charge of what could be his last game as Iran manager.
Queiroz is currently out of contract and only a “gentleman’s agreement” saw him lead the side in Uzbekistan. He is yet to agree a new deal after an apparent falling out with the Iranian FA.
Davy Propper was on the winning side against Paul Pogba three weeks ago when the Albion defeated Manchester United, but he couldn’t repeat the trick at the Stade de France on Sunday.
Propper played all 90 minutes as the Netherlands went down 2-1 to world champions France. Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud were on target for the hosts with Ryan Babel netting for the Dutch.
It was Babel’s first international goal for 13 years, meaning he last netted for the Netherlands when Mark McGhee was in charge of Brighton and Jason Dodd and Ferderico Turienzo had been our big-name summer signings.
Israel made the journey to Windsor Park to face Northern Ireland with Tomer Hemed starting up front. Unfortunately for Hemed, his side failed to muster a meaningful chance during the hour he was on the pitch as they fell to a 3-0 defeat.
Nothern Ireland’s goals came from Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas and Gavin Whyte who netted with his first touch in international football. Former Albion midfielder Oliver Norwood came on at the break for Michael O’Neill’s side but there was no place in Israel’s match day squad for Beram Kayal.
Just like Kayal, Shane Duffy missed out on midweek action as he was an unused substitute in the Republic of Ireland’s 1-1 draw away in Poland as Martin O’Neill experimented with a back three after their heavy 4-1 defeat to Wales earlier in the international break.
The change in formation proved to be profitable for Ireland as Aidan O’Brien took time out of smashing every horse racing trainer record going to score his first international goal to put the visitors 1-0 up in Wroclaw. They were only denied victory by Mateusz Klich’s 87th-minute strike.
Had Duffy been involved, he would’ve set a new record for most caps won by a Brighton player while representing the Albion. Duffy has currently been capped 16 times while a Seagull, the same number as Gerry Ryan and Steve Penney earned for the Republic and Northern Ireland respectively during their time with the club.
