Five United players take on the world

Five Leeds United players will be representing their respective nations this week as part of the international calendar. Chris Wood will be playing for New Zealand, Eunan O’Kane will be representing the Republic of Ireland, Pontus Jansson will suit up for Sweden, Stuart Dallas will be playing for Northern Ireland, and Ronaldo Vieira is part of the England U-20 squad which is playing in a tournament in France.

Ronaldo Vieira already started his tournament, playing for England against Angola in the Toulon Tournament in France. England faces Cuba next, on Thursday, and then take on Japan on Sunday. England are reigning champions of the tournament, having beaten France in the finals last year. Hopefully Vieira will help England repeat as champions of the tournament. He’s already off to a great start.

Teammates Stuart Dallas and Chris Wood have a pretty good chance of lining up against each other, as Northern Ireland have a friendly scheduled against New Zealand on Friday, June 2nd, in Belfast. Northern Ireland also have a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on June 10th, while New Zealand will have the Confederations Cup in Russia this summer. Chris Wood will take over as captain for West Ham United’s Winston Reid for the match.

Pontus Jansson was named to the Sweden squad that will take on France in Sweden at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on June 9th. Sweden will also play a friendly against neighbors Norway on the 13th of June at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.

Finally, Eunan O’Kane has already had a little excitement on his trip to face Mexico at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. O’Kane and teammate Shane Duffy, who plays for newly promoted Brighton & Hove Albion, were involved in a minor accident as they traveled to Dublin on Sunday. The Republic of Ireland face off against Mexico on Thursday, and then fly back to Ireland to face Uruguay next week in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium.

Best of luck to all of the Whites out on international duty this week, and hopefully Vieira helps England bring home silverware from the Toulon tournament for the second year in a row.