The second international break of the season has now concluded, here’s how our players fared during it:
TRAI HUME: NORTHERN IRELAND
Initially, he was supposed to be joined in the Northern Ireland camp by defensive partner Dan Ballard but he was forced to miss his country’s two fixtures due to injury. Hume nevertheless continued his good form on the international stage, helping to keep two clean sheets. In the first game, a behind closed doors affair in Hungary to face Belarus, the right back was voted Man of the Match by the Northern Irish fans in a 0-0 draw. The second game, a 5-0 victory over Bulgaria (the national team’s joint-biggest win ever whilst called Northern Ireland), saw Hume play the whole game again and means that automatic promotion to the Nations League B is in the Green and White Army’s control. In November they’ll host a pivotal fixture against Belarus before travelling to Luxembourg.
CHRIS MEPHAM: WALES
Chris Mepham was an unused substitute in both of Wales’ games this break. Cymru drew away to Iceland and then beat Montenegro in Cardiff, that means they’ll have to beat Turkey next month (as well as Iceland most likely) to earn promotion to the Nations League A without having to go through the playoffs.
LEO HJELDE: NORWAY U21s
Hjelde wasn’t in the squad for the first of two Euro U21 qualifiers involving Norway. In that one, a 93rd minute equaliser in Cork against the Republic of Ireland meant they clinched a point. He was in the matchday squad for the second game, however he wasn’t selected to come off the bench at any point. Norway thumped Turkey 5-1 and guaranteed that they’d be taking part in the playoffs, ranking seventh out of nine second placed teams from the different groups (pipping Ireland to the post on head to head points in third place). They’ll learn their opponents for the playoffs on the 17th October.
MILAN ALEKSIĆ: SERBIA U21s
Our new signing had a great time out on international duty, being capped for the first time at U21 level in Serbia U21s’ sole October game. Not only this, but he scored the sole goal of the fixture so his country beat Ukraine 1-0 in an U21 Euro qualifier. On a slightly sour note, Aleksić was shown a yellow card during the match. Serbia U21s came third in their qualifying group, meaning they won’t be going to Slovakia for the final tournament next year.
MATTY YOUNG: ENGLAND U19s
England U19s played three friendly matches this month. Young was confined to the bench for the first two of these (a 2-1 loss to Portugal and a 4-1 win against the Netherlands) but he started and played the whole 90 minutes in the third and final one, as the U19s beat France 4-2.
TREY OGUNSUYI: BELGIUM U19s
Ogunsuyi was also capped at a new youth level for the first time, starting against France in a friendly and then doing the same when his country played Denmark. Unfortunately they lost both of these, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively.
CHRIS RIGG: ENGLAND U18s
Finally, Rigg was awarded with two more caps for England U18s in two friendlies. The midfielder was the captain in a 2-0 loss to Sweden and then featured as a substitute for around 20 minutes in the second one, helping in a 3-1 win over Ukraine U19s.
