Southampton: Varied int’l results for Armstrong and Gunn
By Marc Walker
There were varied results for Angus Gunn’s England U21s and Stuart Armstrong’s Scotland yesterday evening as both sides played important competitive games.
Both players would have to make do with places on the substitutes bench though after not too much game time for Southampton so far this season.
Gunn’s England would see off Andorra U21s 7-0 in a European Championship qualifier. Five different goalscorers – including a brace from Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin – and an own-goal completed the rout and saw the side qualify for next year’s Euros.
Scotland would fall to defeat to Israel by a score of 2-1 however. Charlie Mulgrew’s penalty had put them ahead after 25 minutes, but a Dor Peretz strike and a Kieran Tierney own-goal eventually saw the Scots defeated after having John Souttar sent off.
A brief break comes before Armstrong’s international game as Scotland face Portugal on Sunday evening, whilst Gunn and the England U21s play Scotland U21s next Tuesday.
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As mentioned before, the England U21s have now qualified for the 2019 European Championships and did so with an unbeaten record. Seven wins and two draws have come from their nine matches so far, with Tuesday’s clash with Scotland their final qualifier.
The Scotland senior team sit in a fairly healthy position in the UEFA Nations League Group C1. They lie level on points with Albania and Israel, but will probably be disappointed to not get another win last night.
Both Gunn and Armstrong have had limited opportunities in the Saints team so far in this campaign. Gunn has made two starts in the Carabao Cup and performed well, whilst Armstrong has only had mainly substitute appearances to try and show his ability.
Two further Saints players were also involved in an international match yesterday as Jan Bednarek’s Poland and Cedric Soares’ Portugal played each other. Bednarek would play the full 90 but Cedric would be an unused substitute as the Portuguese side triumphed 3-2.
Mario Lemina, Steven Davis and Maya Yoshida could all be potentially involved in matches today for Gabon, Northern Ireland and Japan respectively.