Both Kevin McDonald and Tom Cairney have been called up for Scotland's friendlies. Pleased for them personally but, being honest and selfish, I wish they hadn't been. Risk of injury etc. etc. Scotland have two games lined up - one at Hampden on Friday 23rd Match and the other over in Budapest against Hungary on the 27th. While on Scotland. Their new boss, well second time around guy, Alex McLeish has appointed Peter Grant as Assistant Manager to the national team. Good luck to him on that! Quite a Fulham contigent going to be around for those friendlies though. Can't see Grant's appointment disrupting the U23s but equally won't be upset if it means he moves on.
I think now Scott Brown has retired McDonald might get a chance to start a game. Although it sounds daft to us I don't think Cairney will get in the team and might be on the bench. It's been very hard for players who don't play in the Scottish Leagues to get accepted by the fans as they will always want the own players to get in ahead and will always try to find fault. But I'm confident that Alex McLeish has more experience, not to listen to popular demand.
Pleased that both are finally in the squad. Been telling my mates for months that little old Fulham had two Scottish players deserving of a call up. As you would expect they paid no notice, hoping to prove them wrong. Hope both can become important members of the squad, particularly McDonald as hes exactly the type of player we are missing in that sitting midfield role. Cairney will have more of a battle on his hands to get a regular place as he has some decent competition in midfield, particularly attacking minded players. Will be good to see both play in the friendlies, and more importantly come through them fit and well.
The current list - a fair few of the 1st team squad disappearing: Senior squad Floyd Ayité (Togo) – Friendlies Tom Cairney (Scotland) – Friendlies Cyrus Christie (Republic of Ireland) – Friendly Ibrahima Cissé (Guinea) – Friendly Stefan Johansen (Norway) – Friendly Tomas Kalas (Czech Republic) – Friendlies Neeskens Kebano (Congo) – Friendly Kevin McDonald (Scotland) – Friendlies Aleksandar Mitrović (Serbia) – Friendlies Oliver Norwood (Northern Ireland) – Friendly Under-17s Luca Ashby-Hammond (England) – Friendlies Ben Davis (Singapore) – Friendlies
England camp details now in and how is this from 'little' Fulham - Ryan Sessegnon called up for U21s games against Romania (24th March) and Ukraine (27th March) Tayo Edun called up for U20s games against Poland (22nd March) and Portugal (27th March) Steven Sessegnon called up for U18s games against Qatar (21st March), Argentina (23rd March) and Belarus (26th March) And to top that up - Marek Rodak is in the Slovakian U21 side for their UEFA Championship qualifying match against Albania (27th March)
Off our beat but thought I'd get in before rosc. Interesting that James Tarkowski is in the main England squad ahead of Smalling and Cahill.
Our youngest Lion, Steven Sessegnon, played in England U18's comfortable 4-0 win over Qatar yesterday. And over in Paris, Floyd Ayite turned out for Togo in their friendly against Madagascar. The game ended 0-0. please log in to view this image
More good news for our young Lions. Tayo Edun came off the bench after 70 minutes as England U20s got a late winner to beat Poland 1-0 over in Bielsku-Bialej last night. please log in to view this image Not so great this afternoon for Luca Ashby-Hammond though. He did fine but England U17s went 1-0 down to Brazil in the friendly match at Murcia.
Also the afternoon Steven Sessegnon turned out at right back for England U18s. And it was a second win of the week for the Lions as they came from one behind to beat Argentina 2-1 at Manchester City's Academy ground.
Also yesterday Marek Rodak had a busy night but Slovakia's U21 side managed to beat Albania 3-2. Out in Singapore young Ben Davis unfortunately didn't make an appearance as his side ran out winners over Maldives in another 3-2 result. Among the 'big' boys, Cyrus Christie was out in Turkey where the Republic of Ireland went down 1-0; Stefan Johansen captained his Norwegian team to a handsome 4-1 win over Austria; and Aleksandar Mitrovic went to Torino in Italy only for Serbia to see a 2-1 defeat against Morocco. [Mitro is back to earth next Tuesday when Serbia play Nigeria at Barnet !] And last but not least our Scottish duo ... Tom Cairney played on the right wing and SuperKev had to share the middle with Mulgrew .. ... and you probably know the outcome by now ! Costa Rica didn't even need Brian Ruiz to score.
Lucas Ashby-Hammond sat out England U17s 1-0 defeat to Brazil at the Pinatar Arena, Spain, this afternoon. As did Ryan Sessegnon, Demarai Gray being preferred on the left, when England U21s beat Rumania in the Cyrille Regis international at Molineux on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Ollie Norwood played his part in Northern Ireland's 2-1 win over South Korea at Windsor Park. Star of the weekend though was Floyd Ayite. please log in to view this image With Togo two down to the Ivory Coast at the Stade Pierre Brisson, Beauvais, he scored on the nip of half time and again 10 minutes into the second half. Floyd was subbed after 70 minutes but Togo held onto the 2-2 scoreline.
One down at half time to China at the Guangxi Stadium, Nanning, it took Tomas Kalas to show the hapless Czech Republic forwards how to do it. Reckon he might have been more surprised than them however - what do you think? His goal (the first for his country) is 3 minutes into this clip:
Steven Sessegnon sat out England U18s third win on the trot when they beat Belarus 2-1 at St George's Park yesterday. While Stefan Johansen again captained his side and played 80 minutes in a 1-0 win over Albania at the Elbasan Stadium.
Our little goal machine, Fabio Carvalho, was out there this evening as England U16s won there opening game in the Montaigu Tournament in Western France 2-0 against Russia.
Ryan Sessegnon was out this evening as well - his first game for England U21s v Ukraine in a Euro Qualifying match at Bramall Lane. However he was played completely out of position on the right side. The game ended 2-1 in England's favour.
Another lad out tonight was Tayo Edun for England U20s v Portugal at the Manchester City Academy ground. He was very impressive in England's 3-0 win.
Tom Cairney and Kevin McDonald were on the bench tonight for Scotland's game v Hungary in Budapest. Five of the Scottish18 subs were used but none of them were our lads - think I'm okay with that! Scotland won 1-0. Meanwhile over in Barnet, Aleksandar Mitrovic played the full 90 for Serbia v Nigeria. He was really unlucky not to have scored in the first half but with no technology available, it was left to the referee who adjudged that not all of the ball crossed the line. Serbian TV didn't agree and nor did the Gaffer who was in the Stands. Mitro got his revenge in the second half though, scoring twice and giving Serbia a 2-0 win.
Missed this one from Monday. Luca Ashby-Hammond was back in goal for England U17s return match against Brazil, which ended 1-1. But the young man was at it again ... saving a penalty!
Fabio Carvalho scored earlier today for England U16s against Brazil in the Montaigu Tournament. Unfortunately the young Lions let a two goal lead slip and the game ended 3-3, meaning they miss out on a place in the final - by 1 point.
