International Round-Up

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WITH the international break now concluded, the players are returning to Rangers Training Centre ahead of the restart of the domestic season.

Here, we round up how the Gers fared for their countries across the UEFA Nations League and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers over the past few weeks. 

 

Kevin Kelsy - Venezuela

  • Japan 2-1 Venezuela - Monday 28 September 

  • South Korea 0-0 Venezuela - Friday 2 October 

Kevin was on the scoresheet for Venezuela as they kicked-off the international break with a friendly match against Japan. 

The strikers’ 46th minute goal gave his country the lead, but Japan ended up sealing a 2-1 victory with a penalty deep into injury time. 

On Friday, Kelsy started once again for his country, coming up against Rangers teammate Minsu in a 0-0 draw against South Korea. 

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Olwethu Makhanya - South Africa

  • South Africa 2-1 Guinea - Saturday 26 September

  • Eritrea 0-5 South Africa - Wednesday 30 September

  • Egypt 0-1 South Africa - Sunday 4 October 

Makhanya, who has made a big impact since joining the club in the summer, played 90 minutes for his country as they started their African Cup of Nations qualifiers with a 2-1 victory over Guinea. 

They continued that form with a 5-0 victory away to Eritrea last Wednesday with Makhanya also starting in that fixture. 

South Africa made it three wins from three in the international break with a 1-0 victory in a friendly away to Egypt on Sunday.
 

Nico Raskin - Belgium

  • Italy 0-2 Belgium - Friday 25 September

  • Belgium 0-1 France - Monday 28 September

  • Belgium 3-0 Turkiye - Friday 2 October 

  • France 4-1 Belgium - Monday 5 October

Nico started for Belgium away to Italy on Friday as they began Group A with an impressive 2-0 victory.

The midfielder came off the bench on Monday evening as they narrowly lost 1-0 at home to France with Michael Olise scoring in the 88th minute. 

In their final home match of the international break, Belgium put in a strong display to beat Turkiye 3-0, before suffering a 4-1 defeat away to France on Monday. 
 

Ryan Naderi - Czechia

  • Czechia 1-2 Croatia - Saturday 26 September 

  • Czechia 0-2 England - Tuesday 29 September 

  • Spain 3-1 Czechia - Saturday 3 October 

  • England 3-0 Czechia - Tuesday 6 October 

Ryan made his debut for Czechia against Spain on Saturday night, after paperwork was completed during the window allowing the striker to represent his country. 

He came off the bench in the 55th minute, and was unlucky not to have a goal which was disallowed for a foul in the build-up. 

The striker was then handed his first start for his country as they faced England at Wembley last night, playing 90 minutes. 

 

 

Minsu Kim - South Korea

  • South Korea 3-0 Ecuador - Thursday 24 September 

  • South Korea 1-4 Uruguay - Monday 28 September

  • South Korea 0-0 Venezuela - Friday 2 October 

  • South Korea 2-0 Uzbekistan - Tuesday 6 October 

Minsu made his senior debut for South Korea in their first fixture coming off the bench in a 3-0 friendly victory over Ecuador. 

The 20-year-old got more minutes as he was introduced at half-time against Uruguay, before being handed a start in Friday’s friendly with Venezuela, playing 66 minutes. 

South Korea ended their international break with a 2-0 victory in a friendly against Uzbekistan.

 

Findlay Curtis & Liam Kelly - Scotland 

  • Slovenia 0-0 Scotland - Saturday, 26 September 

  • Scotland 0-3 Switzerland - Tuesday, 29 September 

  • North Macedonia 0-2 Scotland - Saturday, 3 October

  • Scotland 1-2 Slovenia - Tuesday 6 October

Scotland played out a goalless draw in Sébastien Pocognoli’s first game in charge away in Slovenia, before a 3-0 defeat at Hampden against Switzerland. 

The new boss got his first victory as Scotland manager away to North Macedonia on Saturday evening. 

Findlay Curtis, who was named in the initial Scotland senior squad, featured for the U21’s in their qualifying match against Azerbaijan, providing four assists in the 5-2 victory, before being called back to the senior squad ahead of the game against Slovenia.   

The winger came off the bench for Scotland in the final 20 minutes of the narrow defeat at Hampden last night. 

 

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Bojan Miovski - North Macedonia 

  • North Macedonia 0- 3 Switzerland - Saturday, 26 September

  • Slovenia 2-0 North Macedonia - Tuesday, 29 September

  • North Macedonia 0-2 Scotland - Saturday, 3 October

  • Switzerland 3-0 North Macedonia - Tuesday, 6 October

It was a tough international break for North Macedonia who suffered four defeats in their opening matches of Group E. 

Bojan featured against Switzerland and Slovenia in the opening two games, before starting against Scotland on Saturday night. 

Djeidi Gassama - Mauritania

  • Mauritania 3-1 Central African Republic - Thursday, 24 September

  • Benin 2-1 Mauritania - Tuesday 29 September

Mauritania had mixed results in their opening AFCON Qualifiers against Central African Republic and Benin. 

They started with a 3-1 victory, before defeat to Benin, with Gassama playing in both fixtures for his country. 

 

Emmanuel Fernandez - Nigeria 

Nigeria 2-1 Madagascar - Friday, 25 September

  • Guinea Bissau 0-3 Nigeria - Tuesday 29 September

  • Russia 3-3 Nigeria - Tuesday 6 October 

Emmanuel didn’t feature in the opening two matches for Nigeria in their AFCON qualifiers as they defeated Madagascar before losing to Guinea Bissau.

He started in their final match of the international window, a friendly away to Russia, playing 90 minutes in the 3-3 draw. 

 

Ivor Pandur - Croatia

  • Czechia 1-2 Croatia - Saturday 26 September 

  • Spain 4-1 Croatia - Tuesday 29 September

  • Croatia 0-7 England - Saturday 3 October

  • Croatia 1-2 Spain - Tuesday 6 October

Ivor was on the bench for his country as they started Group C with a win and three defeats.

They picked up a win in their first match with a 2-1 win over Czechia, before losing 4-1 away to Spain.

It was another difficult evening for Croatia on Saturday as they lost 7-0 to England, before a narrow defeat at home to Spain in the final match. 

 

Kosta Nedeljkovic & Vanja Dragojevic - Serbia 

  •  Serbia 1-2 Greece - Thursday 24 September

  • Serbia 1-2 Netherlands - Sunday 27 September 

  • Germany 2-0 Serbia - Thursday 1 October

  • Netherlands 2-1 Serbia - Sunday 4 October 

Both Kosta Nedeljkovic and Vanja Dragojevic were called-up to the Serbia squad as they got their UEFA Nations League campaign underway. 

It  was a difficult start for Serbia as they suffered four defeats in Group B.

Kosta started three of the matches for his country with a double header against the Netherlands and an away match in Germany.

 

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