September Internationals: Duffy v CR7, Captain Computer, Trossard on fire
The Renaissance of Shane Duffy showed no signs of slowing as attention turned away from the Premier League and onto international football with the first set of World Cup qualifiers of the 2021-22 season.
Duffy and Aaron Connolly were in the Algarve where the Republic of Ireland suffered a cruel 2-1 defeat at the hands of a Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Portugal.
The Republic looked on course for one of the most famous wins in their footballing history right up until the 89th minute. They led 1-0 thanks to John Egan’s first half header, leaving a first win of the qualifying campaign within their grasp.
Ronaldo though had other ideas. The Manchester United forward equalised via one of his trademark towering headers from a Goncaol Guedes cross with 60 seconds of normal time remaining, breaking the men’s international scoring record in the process with his 110th goal for Portugal.
Worse was to come for the Republic. Slovenian referee Matej Jug decided to channel his inner Chris Kavanagh from Brighton 2-3 Manchester United last season and keep the game going until Portugal could find a winner.
That came in the 96th minute, another header from Ronaldo this time from a Joao Mario delivery. Portugal 0-1 Republic of Ireland had been turned into Portugal 2-1 Republic of Ireland in seven minutes.
Prior to that dramatic finish, Ronaldo had spent most of the evening cutting a frustrated figure. This was largely due to the outstanding work of King Shane, who has now gone from being described as the worst signing in SPL history to re-establishing himself in the Brighton starting XI to marking one of the best players of all time out of a game for 89 minutes.
So flustered was Ronaldo by all this that he uncharacteristically missed a first half penalty – saved by young Republic goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu – having slapped Republic defender Dara O’Shea in the face whilst waiting to take the spot kick. Ronaldo was lucky to be on the pitch at all to spare Portugal’s blushes following that incident.
Republic minds were no doubt left wondering how different things would have been if Ronaldo had seen red. Even so, the Boys in Green might have escaped Portugal with something to show from their efforts regardless of Ronaldo’s later interventions if they had have taken the most of their opportunities.
No prizes for guessing who was the main culprit. Connolly should have had two goals at least. He was denied by Portugal keeper Rui Patricio in the first half and then missed the target with a volley in the second, which he then blamed on being fouled. Mr Jug was not interested in that, instead ruling it was just a poor finish.
As seems to happen whenever Connolly goes away on international duty, he apparently deactivated his Twitter account after the game to head off angry Republic fans filling up his mentions.
We say apparently because WAB cannot see Connolly’s account – he blocked us in 2020 for saying that his new haircut made him look like Phillip Schofield.
The sad thing for Connolly is that other than those misses, he actually had a good game. The Republic playing on the counter suited him and he used his pace effectively to give the Portugal defence a testing time.
Worryingly for Graham Potter and Brighton, Connolly appeared to leave the action injured with 20 minutes still to play. Will the Albion’s failure to sign a striker in the summer come back to haunt them within a few days of the transfer window closing by leaving Potter with only Neal Maupay and Danny Welbeck to work with as fit, recognised senior centre forwards?
One man who might find himself being deployed as a number nine because of the striker shortage is Leandro Trossard. The Vampire of Genk had an excellent start to his September international duty with Belgium, playing a starring role as the Red Devils won 5-2 away against Estonia.
Trossard began the game on the right of a front three alongside Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard – not bad company to be in. According to the stats, Trossard registered 82 touches, delivered six crosses, won six duels and created five chances.
One of those was tucked away by Axel Witsel for Belgium’s fourth of the evening. Lukaku helped himself to two goals with Hans Vanaken and Thomas Foket the other players on target.
Jakub Moder started for Poland as they hammered Albania 4-1 and there was a first senior international cap for Andi Zeqiri, who played the final half hour after replacing Haris Seferovic in Switzerland’s 2-1 win over Greece.
Zeqiri cannot now change his allegiance to Kosovo, as many had expected he would once his time at under 21 level with the Swiss was done.
Unlike Zeqiri, Robert Sanchez’s wait for an international debut goes on. He did not make the bench as Spain suffered their first World Cup qualifying defeat since 1993 when losing 2-1 away in Sweden.
Completing our international round up, there was a proud moment for Enock Mwepu who captained Zambia for the first time and scored in their 2-1 win over Mauritius.
The wonderfully named Prince Mumba played a ball over the top which Mwepu brought down before hitting a half volley which the goalkeeper probably should have done better with.
Still, it served as a reminder that The Computer knows where the back of the net is. Getting more goals from his midfield is one way in which Potter could mask the lack of new striker signing, help end the xG nightmare and push Brighton further up the table.
Mwepu appears to have all the tools needed to become that goal scoring midfielder. Expect him to start at left wing back against Brentford, then.
