International round-up (Part 3)

There was once again a strong Valencian flavour as the Spanish U-19’s returned to action, with 11 of the clubs youngsters in action in a 1-1 draw away to Norway. Andrés Céspedes, Joseda, Iván Muñoz, Jésus Vázquez, César Tárrega and Pedro Alemañ were all handed starting berths for the la selección, while Rubén Iranzo, Hugo González, Andrés Garcia, Cristhian Mosquera and Alejandro Salas all came off the bench during the stalemate.

Meanwhile, Hugo Guillamón once again started for the Under 21s in a 2-0 defeat away to Russia, coming off after 74 minutes with his country trailing 1-0 at the time. There were better fortunes for skipper José Gayà, who played 77 minutes in a 2-1 victory over Belgium in the Nations League, handing the Spanish side their first win in the competition, which sees them move up to second in the table.

Full back Daniel Wass returned to International action, grabbing an assist in his return from injury during a comfortable 3-0 win against Switzerland. The Danes have now won 3 out of 3 in Group 4, seeing them 5 points clear of Spain at the top. There was also another impressive international showing for Lee Kang-In, who grabbed an assist and was instrumental in a 5-0 demolition of Malaysia. Fellow young midfielder Yunus Musah was handed his full international debut as he came on for the USA for the last 27 minutes against Tunisia in a 1-1 draw.

Another in action as a substitute was Gonçalo Guedes, who had 21 minutes from the bench in a very impressive 2-0 win against France, Atlético Madrid striker João Félix and former Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing the goals. Other starters were Antonio Valencia, who played the full game in a 5-1 crushing of Bolivia, and Jasper Cillessen, who was on the end of 4 goals as his Netherlands team were brushed aside by England 4-1 on the night, Sterling, Kane, Mount and Chilwell finding the target against the Valencia shot-stopper.

The Netherlands Under-21s faired fair better, winning 3-2 against Norway with Valencia loanee Joshua Zirkzee playing 75 minutes of the game and also helping himself to a goal, while another finding the net was fellow loan arrival Emile Smith Rowe, who grabbed the second goal in a 2-0 win against Macedonia.

Sadly, it wasn’t as happy an evening for Boško Šutalo. Although his side won 3-0 away to Ireland, a very impressive result, the 20 year old, on loan from Atalanta, came off after 73 minutes with a lower leg injury.