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Southampton: Virgil van Dijk and Mario Lemina feature in WCQ’s

By Chris Hughes

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Mario Lemina of Southampton and Marouane Fellaini of Manchester United compete for the ball during the Premier League match between Southampton and Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Mario Lemina of Southampton and Marouane Fellaini of Manchester United compete for the ball during the Premier League match between Southampton and Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium on September 23, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) /
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Two more Southampton players got run-outs for their respective national teams yesterday, whilst Wesley Hoedt  and Cedric Soares were unused substitutes.

Having already caused a bit of a stir since being recalled to his national side, Virgil van Dijk played the full 90 as his Netherlands side beat Belarus 3-1.

Despite what seems a fairly comfortable scoreline, two of The Oranje’s goals came late on through Arjen Robben and then Memphis Depay, after an extended period with the game sat at 1-1.

Despite trying their best to keep up with an impressive Sweden in second place, the Scandinavian’s strolled to an 8-0 over Luxembourg earlier yesterday, nullifying any hopes the Dutch had of securing the runner’s up spot behind France.

Sweden’s superior goal difference – the best of all of Group A – currently stands at 12 better than the Netherlands going into the clash between the two sides early next week, meaning Dick Advocaat’s side will need to produce a 6-0 thrashing in order to not be potentially forced through the play-offs.

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – OCTOBER 13: Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands looks on during the Group A, UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying match between Netherlands and Czech Republic held at Amsterdam Arena on October 13, 2015 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – OCTOBER 13: Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands looks on during the Group A, UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying match between Netherlands and Czech Republic held at Amsterdam Arena on October 13, 2015 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /

On the other hand it was disappointment and defeat for Mario Lemina and his national side Gabon, who were defeated by an impressive Morocco side 3-0.

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Khalid Boutaïb – who plies his trade in Turkey – scored all three of his side’s goals on the night, helping his team jump to top of their qualifying group with a game left to play.

Gabon are now out of the running for qualification for next year’s tournament in Russia, something that will be even more disappointing as they face bottom-of-the-group Mali next week, a game where they will be odds-on favourites to secure three points. Now however, they can only play for pride.

Meanwhile Cedric Soares was an unused substitute for his Portugal side as they continued to snap at the heels of Switzerland going into their match-up with them in their final game of qualification.

The Swiss’ untouched record of eight-straight victories was extended to nine last night with a win over Hungary, but Cristiano Ronaldo and co. will hope to end the run and leapfrog them in the process.

Portugal – who’s only loss comes at the hands of the Swiss – boast a far superior goal difference going into the game, meaning even a 1-0 win will send them top.

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