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There’s often an equivocal concern among fans alike about the International break that comes every now and then in a running season. Often the joys of supporting your team every week or even once in 3 days citing midweek games take a tumble when international break pops off and takes two weeks of your entertaining game.
For me, being a Liverpool fan, finally getting to view my team make it 3 wins in a row and settle the defensive fragility for once was a welcome sight. But then this international break means I’ll have to wait more than a week before getting to watch them play in the league. But should the international break be condemned to such a doom? Guess not, we still have our stars plying their trade for national teams in between.
Liverpool had quite a few many players on the international stage this week. So we thought of lining up how our International contingent fared for their respective nations. Read along.
Another World Cup Hero
After the heroics of Mohamed Salah, it was time for Sadio Mane to bring his team to the World Cup stage and he did it with great rigour. Having made a quick recovery from injury and playing a part in Liverpool’s game with West Ham, he was once again on the field for Senegal against South Africa away.
He played a hand in both the goals as part of the 2-0 victory and stayed on the field for full 90 mins. He assisted the first goal for Diafra Sakho and while his shot for the second goal was saved and bundled for own goal.
In another World Cup Qualifier game, Dejan Lovren had a positive outing as he played the full 90 minutes as part of Croatia’s 4-1 first leg win against Greece on Thursday night.
The English contingent
Joe Gomez, having been called into the senior squad for this game week provided a solid display in England’s 0-0 draw against Germany at Wembley. He was once into the England U-21 back two years ago, but ACL injuries in between stalled his career for a while. He was called to the scene just after 25 mins adhering to injury to Phil Jones and did a fine job.
Similarly, the England U-21 saw Dominic Solanke and Trent Alexander-Arnold team up for their game against Ukraine as part of European U-21 qualifier. Dominic Solanke scored the first goal for the team while laying off the second while Alexander-Arnold stayed on the bench for the whole of the game. Solanke will now team up with the senior squad for the upcoming Three Lions’ clash with Brazil on Tuesday.
Other International Stars
Emre Can also played a part in Germany’s draw against Three Lions having replaced Julian Draxler in the second half. He was joined by Joe Gomez who played for the hosts.
Another of two Liverpool's players head locked against each other were Georginio Wijnaldum and Andrew Robertson. They both played the full game as part of the Netherlands' friendly clash against Scotland. The game was won by the Dutch 1-0.
Ben Woodburn, the Welsh prodigy came on after the hour to feature for their outing against France. France won the game 2-0. Meanwhile, Danny Ward was on the bench while Wayne Hennessey took the place between goal.
Divock Origi had a short cameo having come on with two minutes left against Mexico in Belgium’s 3-3 draw. Simon Mignolet was on the bench for the game.
Marko Grujic too stayed on the bench as Serbia played in China and won 2-0.
Notable youth outings
Cory Whelan, the versatile defender was with Republic of Ireland U-21’s as part of their 4-0 win against Israel.
Harry Wilson, too started for Wales U-21 but saw his side lose 4-0 to Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Kamil Grabara, the youth goalkeeper sat on the bench as Tomasz Loska remained the first choice for Poland U-21’s 2-2 draw against the Faroe Islands.
Another of youth starts, Luis Longstaff, played for England U-17 as part of a 3-2 win over Portugal. He was later replaced by Curtis Jones after 57 minutes. Another Liverpool FC player, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, stayed on the bench for the game.
