International football round up: Follow 11 Manchester United stars in action for their countries at Red Devil Armada
By Ollie Slack
Manchester United’s most talented crop are off travelling the world to play for their national teams once again. We at Red Devil Armada will be providing you with the best updates, match previews, reviews and analysis for all your favourite Red Devils.
On Thursday night four Manchester United stars were in action for their countries. Both Victor Lindelof and Sergio Romero played full 90 minutes for Sweden and Argentina respectively. The pair also both kept clean sheets, Lindelof seeing out a 0-0 draw with World Cup quarter-finalists Russia and Romero having little to do in Argentina’s 4-0 win over Iraq.
Paul Pogba and World Champions France were on the verge of an embarrassing loss to Iceland as they trailed 2-0 after 58 minutes. Pogba was substituted nine minutes later for Tanguy Ndombele as Les Bleus tried to stage a dramatic fightback. Kylian Mbappe was the man to spark that comeback as his drilled ball across the box deflected in off Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson and into the net. As the match entered stoppage time, France won a penalty and Mbappe stepped up to take it whipping it into the top left corner to complete the comeback.
Scott McTominay has been selected for the Scotland squad for their latest batch of international fixtures, however, the United youngster was not involved in the squad for the trip to Israel last night. It was an embarrassing night for the 10-man Scotts who lost 2-1 to a side ranked 94th in the world with only one win in their last 10 games.
Who’s still to play?
Eric Bailly will be the first of the rest of the Manchester United players to don their countries shirt tonight at 18:00 PM BST. The Ivory Coast take on the Central African Republic on matchday three of Group H in the qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations. Ivory Coast sit second in the group, three points off Guinea and level with C.A.R.
An hour later, Brazilian Fred will be hoping to get some minutes under his belt when his side takes on Saudi Arabia in an international friendly.
Then it’s the turn of our World Cup semi-finalists from Belgium and England. Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini are in the squad to face Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League. Belgium are currently second in Group A2 on goal difference. They beat Iceland 3-0 in September and would overtake Switzerland, who also defeated Iceland a month ago, with a win.
England too are in UEFA Nations League action. Luke Shaw was meant to be another Manchester United inclusion alongside Marcus Rashford in the squad but he joined Jesse Lingard on the treatment table. Rashford will be hoping to start tonight after his fine international form of late, the forward has scored two in two and seeks revenge on Croatia tonight, who beat England in the World Cup semis back in July.
Next. Marcus Rashford has been in good form for his country of late, but is struggling to make an impact at Manchester United, is it to do with the contrasting management styles of Southgate and Mourinho? FIND OUT HERE!. dark
Early on Saturday morning sees the last of Manchester United’s stars feature for their country in this round of fixtures, Alexis Sanchez’ Chile travel to Peru. That match gets underway at 01:30 AM and is the last before the second round of games get underway on Sunday, starting with Scotland again.