Southampton: Four Saints players play in Friday internationals
By Marc Walker
Four Southampton players played in internationals on Friday night and had mixed results for their respective countries.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had perhaps the most successful evening as he played for Denmark against the Republic of Ireland.
The Saints captain came on in the 72nd minute to replace Ajax’s Lasse Schone and took just four minutes to open the scoring when he headed home his third senior international goal.
However, Brighton’s Shane Duffy would equalise for Ireland and secure an important draw for Mick McCarthy’s side.
Denmark will have been disappointed with the result though as it sees them well off the pace in Euro 2020 Qualifying Group D.
Defender Jan Bednarek was also in Qualifying action and played the full 90 minutes of Poland’s clash with North Macedonia.
His side were victorious by a scoreline of 1-0, with the winning goal coming courtesy of AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek.
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The three points sees Poland in a strong position having won all three of their Euro 2020 qualifiers so far.
Josh Sims and England U20s rounded off a miserable Toulon Tournament campaign today with a 2-1 loss to Chile.
The 22-year-old was introduced after 75 minutes in place of Queens Park Rangers’ Eberechi Eze but couldn’t help his teammates to a positive result.
Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock had put England 1-0 up on the stroke of half-time, but two second-half strikes from Chile turned the game on its head.
Whilst the young lions had a youthful side in comparison to some of their opponents, three losses to China, Portugal and Chile saw them play out a disappointing competition.
Mohamed Elyounoussi was an unused substitute as Norway played out a 2-2 draw in their Euro 2020 qualifier with Romania.
Moi’s cousin and teammate Tarik Elyounoussi opened the scoring in the 56th minute and Martin Odegaard doubled the home side’s lead.
However, a double from visiting forward Claudiu Keseru levelled the game and means that Norway now sit fifth in Group F.