Southampton: Four wins and a draw for Saints players in recent internationals

Five Southampton players were unbeaten in their internationals on Friday and Saturday by playing in four wins and a draw.

All five games were vital ones too with various World Cup and European qualifying campaigns now well under way.

First in action on Friday was Kevin Danso as he and Austria Under-21s took on Kosovo in another Under-21s Euro qualifier.

The Saints man picked up a yellow card but played the full 90 minutes as his side won 4-0 thanks to goals from Marko Raguz and Sandi Lovric either side of a Marco Friedl brace.

Austria now sit joint-top of the their group with England but look set to face a play-off to confirm their place at the 2021 Euro finals in Hungary and Slovenia.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played the last 36 minutes of Denmark’s European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar which saw them victorious by a convincing 6-0 scoreline.

Braces from Robert Skov and Christian Eriksen and further strikes from both Christian Gytkjar and Martin Braithwaite completed the scoring and took Denmark to the top of qualifying group D.

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Hojbjerg returning for this game will be pleasing for Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl after the midfielder’s absence from the last Premier League game versus Everton through concussion.

Sofiane Boufal was also in action on Friday and came on as a second-half substitute (via southamptonfc.com) as Morocco faced Mauritania in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier

However, he and his teammates would ultimately be frustrated as a truly dominant performance produced only a 0-0 draw.

Onto Saturday, and Jan Bednarek played the full 90 minutes as Poland travelled to Israel for their Euro 2020 qualifier.

The visitors claimed a narrow 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Grzegorz Krychowiak and Krzysztof Piatek and secured their place at Euro 2020 as a result.

Poland return home to face Slovenia in their final qualifier and Bednarek will be wanting to be involved in what will surely be a carnival atmosphere.

Stuart Armstrong was with Scotland as they face Cyprus away from home yesterday too but was an unused substitute as Steve Clarke’s side secured a pleasing 2-1 win – Ryan Christie and John McGinn scoring the all important goals either side of half-time.