INTERNATIONAL ROUNDUP PART ONE

Ahead of our return to Premier League action this weekend we’ve taken a look at how all of our lads performed on international duty. The list of players going away every international break has grown massively over the summer. Part two will be out shortly.

GRANIT XHAKA: SWITZERLAND

Sweden 0-2 Switzerland

In his first international game during the break to league football, Granit Xhaka and his Switzerland side defeated Sweden 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Granit opened the scoring in the 64th minute after converting a penalty. Aside from the goal, Xhaka had another solid game. In the 94th minute the Swiss grabbed another to seal the win. 

Slovenia 0-0 Switzerland

Xhaka captained his country to a clean sheet and a valuable point. Four points from these two fixtures mean they’re three clear at the top of the qualifying group (ahead of Kosovo). Xhaka played the most passes in the match (104), with 92% accuracy. This result extends their unbeaten streak to eight games now. The A-Team face Sweden at home and Kosovo away in the final two group stage World Cup qualifiers in November, they'll be looking to seal a spot in next summer's tournament.

TRAI HUME & DAN BALLARD: NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland 2-0 Slovakia

Trai Hume scored a lovely volley with his weak foot to make it 2-0. His first ever goal for the senior team and what a way to do it. Dan Ballard played the full 90 minutes, contributing to the clean sheet, and was booked on the hour mark.

Northern Ireland 0-1 Germany

Dirty Mag Woltemade scored the only goal. It was a spirited performance, Hume was captain and Ballard was Man of the Match. Ballard also had one ruled out for offside, winning 12 duels during the game. They are now third in their group, on six points, three points behind leaders Germany and Slovakia with two games left. Next up for Norn Iron is Slovakia away and Luxembourg at home in the qualifiers. NI are currently ranked as one of the best four Nations League group winners not in the top two of their qualification group, so they do have that to fall back on in all likelihood should they fail to get through to the play-offs directly.

OMAR ALDERETE: PARAGUAY

Japan 2-2 Paraguay

Omar Alderete played 90 minutes. Ex-Mag Almiron scored but they conceded a 94th minute equaliser.

South Korea 2-0 Paraguay

Paraguay lost 2-0 but the biggest headline coming out of that game was Alderete’s injury. He was subbed off after 81 minutes with a "muscle issue". Initially, this was a major cause for concern but Regis Le Bris said this, "The tests so far seem positive. He has had a long travel, so we will continue to monitor...". That's alleviated some fears and hopefully it's just a minor issue and he'll be back playing before long. La Albirroja travel to play the USA in Pennsylvania in the next international break in a friendly, having already secured World Cup qualification.

BERTRAND TRAORE: BURKINA FASO

Sierra Leone 0-1 Burkina Faso

Bertrand Traore captained his country as they defeated Sierra Leone away in the World Cup qualifiers. It was thanks to a Traore cross from a corner that led to the only goal in the game. He was on the pitch for 82 minutes. 

Burkina Faso 3-1 Ethiopia

In their final group stage qualifier they played Ethiopia and won 3-1. Traore didn’t score or assist but by all accounts he had a decent game. Burkina Faso finished second in their group but narrowly missed out on the play-offs, as one of the top four runners-up, by just one goal, being pipped to the post by Nigeria. Next up is the Africa Cup of Nations in December, they'll come up against Equatorial Guinea, Algeria and Sudan.

REINILDO MANDAVA: MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique 1-2 Guinea

Despite being defeated in this World Cup qualifier, Reinildo scored an equaliser after 19 minutes. The free kick came in and the defender threw himself at the ball to head it into the net.

Somalia 0-1 Mozambique

In his second fixture of this international break, Reinildo contributed to a clean sheet in a 1-0 win over Somalia. Despite this win, Mozambique finished third in Group D and missed out on World Cup qualification. The Southeast African country play against the Ivory Coast, Gabon and Cameroon at the upcoming AFCON tournament next.

CHEMSDINE TALBI: MOROCCO

Morocco 1-0 Bahrain

Chemsdine Talbi’s second appearance for Morocco came in a friendly against Bahrain. He came off the bench and played 11 minutes, meaning he was on the pitch when centre back Jawad El Yamiq scored a 94th-minute winner via a powerful header from a corner.

Morocco 1-0 Congo

Morocco won both fixtures 1-0 during this period (this fixture being the last group stage World Cup qualifier) but Talbi was an unused substitute for this one. Youssef En-Nesyri scored the winner here in the 63rd minute. In their AFCON group (for which Talbi's nation are the hosts) they'll play against Comoros, Mali and Zambia.

ROBIN ROEFS: NETHERLANDS

Malta 0-4 Netherlands

Our fan favourite keeper was an unused substitute in the Netherlands’ 4-0 win over Malta, in which Cody Gakpo (twice), Tijjani Reijnders and Memphis Depay scored the goals.

Netherlands 4-0 Finland

Similarly, Roefs remained on the bench to witness another 4-0 drubbing - this time Donyell Malen, Virgil Van Dijk, Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo all got on the scoresheet. The 22-year-old is yet to make his senior debut for the national team. The Dutch sit top of their group with two games remaining, three points ahead of Poland. Those two remaining fixtures come versus Poland away and Lithuania at home next month, due to goal difference however the Netherlands are as good as qualified for the upcoming WC in North America.

ARTHUR MASUAKU & NOAH SADIKI: DR CONGO

Togo 0-1 DR Congo

Alarm bells were ringing when Noah Sadiki wasn’t included in the DR Congo squad to face Togo and it soon emerged that the midfielder had sprained his ankle in the build-up to the game. The 20-year-old immediately returned to Wearside to begin treatment. Like Alderete, his injury is probably not as bad as first feared with RLB saying this, "He will train today (Thursday) and will assess it after the session...". Arthur Masuaka played the full 90 minutes in this clean sheet victory.

DR Congo 1-0 Sudan

Masuaku returned to left back and started another game for DR Congo in their 1-0 win over Sudan. He played 84 minutes, helping his country secure a second-placed finish in Group B and confirm their place in the CAF 2026 World Cup play-offs, which are set to take place in November. The four nations confirmed for the playoffs are: Nigeria, DR Congo, Cameroon and Gabon. The Leopards will play Cameroon in Morocco in the semi-final, should they advance they'll play either Nigeria or Gabon in the final. A win in that game wouldn't be the end of the journey to North America though, as they'd then advance to the inter-confederation play-offs due to take place next March. Since I want use my brain on less complicated things (like rocket science or figuring out the meaning of life) I'm not even going to try to work out if DR Congo would be seeded or unseeded for that. If they're unseeded they'll have to play another semi-final before another final but if they're seeded they'll only have to play in a final. Oh, and it's all being hosted in Mexico.