Leeds international round-up: Thursday 10th October

Leeds United had several players in international action last night, with mixed levels of success.

The highest profile match with Leeds involvement last night was Northern Ireland’s trip to Rotterdam to play Netherlands in a crucial qualifier at the top of Group C, which they unfortunately lost 3-1.

Stuart Dallas claimed the assist with a great cross, having out battled Juventus defender Matthijs De Ligt, for a headed goal from Hull City striker Josh Magennis which gave the Green and White army a shock 1-0 lead in the 75th minute. This gave Northern Ireland something to defend but a Memphis Depay goal brought the hosts level in the 80th minute.

Unfortunately, the real heartbreak was still to come for Northern Ireland, as Sevilla striker Luuk De Jong scored a fortuitous goal in the 91st minute, before Lyon’s Depay added a third in the 94th minute.

From a Leeds perspective, the performance of the Dallas was the biggest story of the night. An excellent display from the “Cookstown Cafu”.

Another Northern Irishman on display was Alfie McCalmont. He played the full 90 minutes for their u21 side but was unable to prevent them going down to a 2-1 defeat in Aalborg against Denmark.

A more successful night was had by North Macedonia and therefore by Ezgjan Alioski. Alioski played the full 90 minutes of a crucial 2-1 away win against Slovenia. This win sees them jump into 3rd place in Group G, only 2 points behind Austria in 2nd.

In the same group. Mateusz Klich played for an hour for Poland in their comfortable 3-0 win over bottom of the group side Latvia. He was replaced on the hour mark by AC Milan forward Krzysztof Piątek. Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski stole the headlines with a hat-trick continuing his recent fine form.

Sunday will see North Macedonia and Poland face off, so Leeds fans will get to see Alioski and Klich go head to head.

Jack Clarke started for Engand u20s in their 2-2 draw against Italy, playing 72 minutes before being replaced by Ian Poveda-Ocampo of Manchester City. England’s goals were scored by Manchester United midfielder Angel Gomes who scored twice in 90 seconds to put England 2-0 ahead before Italy fought back with goals just either side of half-time.

Leeds were also represented in England’s u19 side as Ryan Edmondson played 62 minutes in a 3-1 defeat against France.

Nohan Kenneh was called up as an injury replacement for England u17s and came off the bench in the 62nd minute during their dramatic 3-3 draw against Germany.

Tyler Roberts was an unused substitute for Wales in their 1-1 draw with Slovakia, as was Ilhan Meslier in France U21s 5-0 win over Azerbaijan.