Six players from Ipswich Town's first-team squad and two members of the under-21's picked up international caps during the November break. Alex Jones takes a look at how they got on.
With Wes Burns only just recovering from his shoulder injury that he picked up during the last international break, Nathan Broadhead was the only Town representative in the Wales squad this month.
It was a tough couple of weeks for his side, who went into their away game against Armenia knowing that a place at Euro 2024 was in their hands. However, a 1-1 draw put Croatia into the driving seat to qualify, with Broadhead only playing the last 12 minutes in Yerevan.
That meant that they needed to beat group leaders Turkey in Cardiff and hope that Armenia could get a result against Croatia. With a match of such magnitude, manager Rob Page rolled the dice and started Broadhead, playing him on the left side of the front three alongside Fulham’s Harry Wilson and Tottenham Hotspur’s Brennan Johnson.
The Ipswich forward came close with an early shot before Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams fired the Dragons ahead with a superb effort, temporarily moving them up to second place. However, Croatia took the lead against Armenia shortly before half-time, with a controversial penalty decision allowing Turkey to equalise in the 70th minute and earn a 1-1 draw.
It means that Wales will have to go through the play-offs to reach Euro 2024, with a one-legged semi-final tie against one of Finland, Iceland and Ukraine to come in March. The winner of that game will go on to face Poland or Estonia for a place in next year’s tournament.
Australia have been in World Cup qualifying action this month, with boss Graham Arnold putting Cameron Burgess into the starting lineup for their game against Bangladesh, giving him his third senior cap.
The centre-back played the entire 90 minutes of his side’s 7-0 win in Melbourne, with a hat-trick from Jamie Maclaren, a brace from Mitchell Duke and goals from Harry Souttar and Brandon Borrello giving them three points in their opening game of the group.
Massimo Luongo was brought on at half-time for his 45th cap, and he was given the chance to score his seventh goal after Aiden O’Neill was brought down inside the box. However, the midfielder saw his poor penalty saved, meaning that he’s failed to convert any of his three spot-kicks at international level in his career so far.
The Town duo were then left as unused substitutes for their 1-0 win against Palestine in Kuwait, where the Socceroos were somewhat fortunate to come away with all three points.
Burgess and Luongo are both expected to return to international duty in January as Australia start their Asian Cup campaign with group-stage games against India, Syria and Uzbekistan.
Elkan Baggott reached 19 international caps, starting both of Indonesia’s opening group stage games in World Cup qualifying.
Shin Tae-yong’s side started off with a daunting trip to Iraq, where more than 60,000 supporters filled the Basra Sport City Centre. They were handed a 5-1 defeat, sending them to the bottom of the group.
It meant that they needed a response against the Philippines, which looked unlikely when a first-half goal put the hosts ahead in Manila. However, they quickly improved and were unlucky not to have equalised before half-time. In the end, their persistence paid off as Saddil Ramdani fired home in the 70th minute to earn a 1-1 draw.
Like Australia, Indonesia now turn their attentions to January’s Asian Cup, where they’ll face Iraq, Vietnam and Japan in the group stages.
Following on from the departure of manager Joe Edwards, who joined Millwall earlier this month, Dane Scarlett returned to the England under-20’s squad for their Elite League games against Italy and Germany.
The on-loan striker started against Italy at Doncaster Rovers’ Eco-Power Stadium, where his side were comfortably beaten 3-0.
He was then dropped to the bench in Regensburg, replacing Leeds United’s Mateo Joseph shortly after the hour-mark in a dramatic match that saw England win 3-2 despite being down to 10 men.
Cieran Slicker was involved for Scotland’s under-21’s, who continued their impressive EURO U21 qualifying campaign with two positive results.
The goalkeeper started both matches, beginning with a fantastic 2-0 win away at Belgium. They then travelled to Hungary for a 0-0 draw, meaning that Slicker kept two clean sheets to take his country up to second in their group.
Scot Gemmill’s side still have five games left, and with a huge clash against leaders Spain coming up next year, qualification is far from guaranteed. However, by sitting ahead of Belgium on goal difference, they stand a good chance of reaching the tournament in 2025.
Woody Williamson and Rio Morgan were both busy during the international break.
Williamson was called up to Scotland’s under-19 side for their games EURO U19 qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia, who they respectively beat 3-1 and 2-1. The young goalkeeper started both games, meaning that he’s already won five caps at just 17 years old.
Morgan, on the other hand, was named on the bench for Northern Ireland under-19’s, who were beaten 2-0 by Czechia and 3-0 by Portugal.
Manager Gareth McAuley, who made 115 appearances for Town between 2008 and 2011, brought the midfielder on in both games, although he wasn’t able to change the results despite coming close in the latter stages against Portugal.
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