Club football is back after the international break, so it is time to check on how those Hatters that went on international duty have fared
Ali Al-Hamadi will be participating in this summer’s World Cup with Iraq as they beat Bolivia 2-1 to put them in a group with France, Norway and Senegal. Ali played 66 minutes and scored the opening goal of the contest to put Iraq on their way to North America.
Josh Keeley and Ireland fell short in their bid to qualify for the World Cup as they lost 4-3 on penalties to the Czech Republic after it finished 2-2 in 120 minutes of football. Josh did not play a part in that game and did not feature in Ireland’s friendly in Dublin against North Macedonia a few days later.
Northern Ireland also were unable to reach World Cup as they were beaten by Italy 2-0 in Bergamo. George Saville did not play in the game but got 45 minutes in the friendly against Wales in Cardiff.
Kasey Palmer’s Jamaica could not reach the tournament in North America. The Reggae Boyz beat New Caledonia 1-0 to begin with where Kasey did not feature but in the game with DR Congo, Kasey played 90 minutes before being substituted just before the beginning of extra time. It was in extra time where Jamaican hearts were broken as the DR Congo scored and ended up winning 1-0.
Emilio Lawrence started Scotland U21s’ Euros qualifying game with the Czech Republic where they drew 0-0. Emilio then came on as a late sub for Scotland’s U21s but this time they lost 3-0 to Portugal.
Zach Ioannides made his debut for Cyprus’ U21s in their 7-0 defeat to Spain then he started and played the full 90 minutes in the Cypriots next game which was a 3-0 loss to Finland.
Dylan Stitt has been away with Northern Ireland’s U19s for European Championships Elite Round. Dylan was not part of the squad for their opening group against Ukraine in which they lost 1-0. But he did start the final two group games against Romania and Kazakhstan in which Northern Ireland U19s drew 0-0 and won 1-0 respectively. However, Northern Ireland were eliminated as they did not win their group.
