Saints international round-up: Armstrong hits 50 caps and Bednarek makes Euro

SOUTHAMPTON’S inter­na­tion­al play­ers will now return to Sta­ple­wood fol­low­ing the end of the March inter­na­tion­al break.

It was a mixed bag for the Saints con­tin­gent who went away, with some expe­ri­enc­ing the highs of Euro 2024 qual­i­fi­ca­tion and record caps, while some missed out on glo­ry and action alto­geth­er.

They return to the south coast ahead of the busi­ness end of a Cham­pi­onship which could see them pro­mot­ed to the Pre­mier League.

Here is how every Saints play­er feared while away on inter­na­tion­al duty…

Repub­lic of Ire­land

Ryan Man­ning was a late call-up to the Ire­land squad and start­ed on the bench along­side Gavin Bazunu for their 0–0 draw with Bel­gium on Sat­ur­day.

Will Small­bone start­ed that game and drew high praise from inter­im boss John O’Shea after the game.

Bazunu returned between the sticks for Ire­land in their 1–0 defeat to Switzer­land, while Small­bone fea­tured from the bench.

Scot­land

Che Adams and Stu­art Arm­strong were used as sub­sti­tutes as Scot­land were thrashed 4–0 by the Nether­lands at Ham­p­den Park.

Arm­strong went on to make earn his 50th cap for Scot­land in their 1–0 defeat to North­ern Ire­land when he came on with 12 min­utes to go. Adams also fea­tured off the bench.

North­ern Ire­land

Mid­field­er Shea Charles pro­vid­ed the assist for North­ern Ire­land’s goal against Roma­nia in a 1–1 draw.

Although he is not yet a reg­u­lar for Southamp­ton, Charles, 20, has already become a key play­er for his coun­try.

He played a fur­ther 90 min­utes as his coun­try record­ed a bril­liant 1–0 win over Scot­land at Ham­p­den Park.

Eng­land

Tay­lor Har­wood-Bel­lis cap­tained Eng­land to a com­fort­able 5–1 win over Azer­bai­jan to move joint-top of Group F in under-21 Euros qual­i­fy­ing. 

The defend­er reg­is­tered an assist when his goal­bound head­er was turned over the line by Jaden Philo­gene.

Har­wood-Bel­lis and Eng­land backed up that win with a resound­ing 7–0 vic­to­ry over Lux­em­bourg in their sec­ond Euro qual­i­fi­er.

Teenagers Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Tyler Dib­ling and Jay­den Meghoma fea­tured for Eng­land’s under-18s they won the Pinatar Cup, beat­ing the Nether­lands, Czech Repub­lic and Ger­many.

Amo-Ameyaw had a par­tic­u­lar­ly good show­ing in Spain, win­ning the MVP award for his per­for­mances in Eng­land’s tri­umph.

READ MORE: Southamp­ton star­let named MVP after Eng­land U18 tri­umph at Pinatar Cup

Wales

Loa­nee David Brooks was influ­en­tial for Wales as they breezed past Fin­land to set up a 2024 Euro­pean Cham­pi­onship qual­i­fi­ca­tion play­off against Poland.

The 26 year old scored on three min­utes before set­ting up Bren­nan John­son just after the break.

Brooks dropped to the bench against Poland due to ill­ness and was test­ed before ulti­mate­ly hav­ing to be with­drawn in extra time.

Poland

Jan Bednarek played 90 min­utes in defence as his coun­try thrashed Esto­nia 5–1 to set up the pre­vi­ous­ly men­tioned final against Wales in Cardiff.

He went on to start that final, which Poland won on penal­ties after Leeds Unit­ed’s Dan James spot kick was saved by Woj­ciech Szczęs­ny.

Poland now progress to this summer’s tour­na­ment, where they have been drawn along­side France, the Nether­lands and Aus­tria.