September’s International Round Up: Part Two
Five Albion players represented their countries in competitive action in the second round of fixtures in September’s international break – and all five came away victorious.
We start our round up in Europe where qualification for Euro 2020 continues to motor along. It was Davy Propper who enjoyed the biggest win of the Seagulls contingent as he played the full 90 minutes in the Netherlands 4-0 victory against Estonia.
Ronald Koeman selected Propper as one of two holding players in Tallinn alongside Bareclona’s Frenkie De Jong. Ryan Babel – the man who was infamously voted as our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for April despite playing for Fulham at the time – scored twice for the Dutch with Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum also on target.
Romania picked up three points but they were far less convincing in their home clash with Malta. Reading striker George Pușcaș scored the only goal of the game and Florin Andone completed the full 90 minutes without so much as a yellow card. There was no place in the matchday squad however for Tudor Baluta.
The controversial 2022 World Cup in the friendly and welcoming country of Qatar may be three years away still, but Asian nations have already begun their qualification process.
Australia made the perfect start with a 3-0 win in Kuwait with the Albion’s two Socceroos playing crucial roles. Aaron Mooy scored the Aussies’ third with just 38 minutes played with a thunderbolt from outside the box after home goalkeeper Sulaiman Abdulghafoor punched away a Rhyan Grant cross.
They failed to add to Mooy’s strike and captain Mathew Leckie’s earlier brace but it didn’t matter as the damage was done. That meant a relatively quiet evening for Ryan, his only real save of note being to push Hussain Al-Musawi’s dipping effort over the bar on the hour mark.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s supporters meanwhile were quick to use his contribution to Iran’s 2-0 success as justification for Graham Potter to start him for the Albion in this Saturday’s crucial clash with Burnley.
Clearly, there isn’t too much difference in standards between facing the might of Hong Kong and taking to the field in the Premier League and as such, Jahanbakhsh’s assist for Iran’s second should push him into Potter’s reckoning.
Sarcasm aside, it was actually a half decent bit of play from Jahanbakhsh despite the limited opposition. A burst of pace took him in behind the Hong Kong defence, from where he was able to pull back to Karim Ansarifard who swept home.
The game was more noteworthy though for the democracy protests that took place inside the Hong Kong Stadium. Home supporters booed the Chinese national anthem, sung Glory to Hong Kong instead and formed a human chain around the stadium at half time.
Away from competitive action, three Albion players could have been involved in international friendlies but only one of those made it onto the pitch.
That was Alexis Mac Allister, who made his full debut and earned a second cap for Argentina as they hammered Mexico 4-0. Mac Allister played for the first 65 minutes in which all the goals arrived with Lautaro Martinez netting a hat-trick and Leandro Paredes notching a penalty.
Shane Duffy was an unused substitute as Mick McCarthy gave his second string a chance in the Republic of Ireland’s 3-1 win over Bulgaria while Leon Balogun didn’t even make it onto the bench for Nigeria as they drew 2-2 in Ukraine.
We can’t finish this without mentioning Lewis Dunk either. England’s 5-3 win over Kosovo might have been one of the most ridiculous internationals we’ve seen in some time, but if you ignore how good the entertainment at St Mary’s was and the fact that the Three Lions now possess a genuine world class front three, then their defending was a real cause for concern.
Michael Keane made a dreadful mistake to gift Kosovo their opener before most people had sat down with a £4.00 Piglets Pantry pie. Harry Maguire then conceded a shocking penalty for the visitors’ third.
Now, we know Dunk isn’t immune to cock ups. But so far this season he’s been faultless to the point where there seems little chance that he’d have committed two catastrophic errors like those from Keane and Maguire.
Kosovo were much more lively opponents than many people expected, but if they can cause that sort of chaos then you can only imagine the havoc that the likes of France, Belgium and Brazil could create with their calibre of attacking players.
Dunk might not be the answer, but he is surely worth having a look at – particularly if he maintains his current form over the course of the next month.
England have two away games against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria to come in October. Perhaps it’s time that you took another look at the Albion’s captain, Mr Southgate?
