I love international football.
Look, at the moment when it comes to football there’s a real Sophie’s Choice: punish yourself by experiencing all that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (doesn’t) have to offer; or satisfy your appetite for endless football by sitting through meaningless international fixtures.
Like any Spurs fan, I’m as masochistic as they come, and at least the latter gives us an opportunity to escape the wonderment at what new depths Spurs have discovered this week.
You know, until injuries
hit. Thanks, Netherlands.
Speaking of which, the Dutch made the most out of Micky van de Ven’s rare run of fitness, with Spurs’ captain playing 90 minutes in all of their remaining three Nations League fixtures, with the Oranje picking up two wins against Serbia and a draw against Greece. Van de Ven picked up an injury in that last match, while Jan Paul van Hecke missed the second Serbia fixture and the Greece match after picking up an injury in training and returning to North London. Thankfully, neither are expected to be out for long, with both chances to be available for Manchester United on the weekend.
It was a busy window as well for Spurs’ other international defenders. Ben Davies and Andy Robertson both started all of Wales’ and Scotland’s fixtures, respectively, with both going the distance in three of the four. After Scotland drew against Slovenia, they fell to a heavy loss against Switzerland, before bouncing back against Macedonia then losing their reverse fixture against Slovenia. Wales also suffered two losses, both against Denmark, but Davies led the Dragons via a commanding performance at the back to perhaps a surprise 2-1 win against Erling Haaland’s Norway, helped also by a red card to Torbjorn Heggem just after half-time.
Spurs’ two European midfield representatives also had their fitness tested, each starting three of four of their sides’ matches. For Lucas Bergvall, those minutes were probably welcomed, as Sweden won two of the three remaining matches in the break against Romania and Poland with Bergvall impressive in both, as well as playing Bosnia & Herzegovina to a stalemate; no mean feat when taking on two countries at once, of course. Sandro Tonali helped Italy turn around their tough start to the international break, following up their loss to Belgium with two wins against Turkey and a well-fought draw against France.
It was a quieter international break for Spurs’ goalkeepers, however, with Antonin Kinsky and Martin Dubravka starting one match each. Dubravka emerged victorious as despite their inferior potassium, Slovakia toppled Kazakhstan 2-1, while Kinsky was thrown in the deep end against world champions Spain, with a less successful appearance than his club teammate. Kinsky was tested on numerous occasions as Czechia lost 3-1, with the Spurs custodian picking up a caution after protesting to the referee following Spain’s late third goal, a goal for which Kinsky was partially at fault as he was slow to come off his line as Spain broke and instead of closing down the shot, deflected the ball into the path of goalscorer Mikel Merino.
In Europe, though, another instance of the Nations League has kicked off. Two of Spurs’ goalkeepers in the form of Antonin Kinsky and Martin Dubravka were unused substitutes for Czechia and Slovakia, respectively, as the Czechs fell to Croatia and Slovakia beat Moldova. Spurs’ Dutch defenders Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke both went the distance for Netherlands, drawing 1-1 with Germany, while Ben Davies did the same with Wales as he was reunited with ex-teammate Joao Palhinha in a loss to Portugal. Rounding out Spurs’ defensive representatives was Andy Robertson, who played the full 90 in a nil-all draw to Slovenia.
Heading away from Europe, Omar Marmoush was involved in two further matches following Egypt’s draw against Angola. He appeared to put his finishing struggles behind him, scoring two in a dominant 0-5 win over South Sudan, but followed that up by missing a big chance as Egypt went down in a shock result to South Africa. To round things out, Rodrigo Bentancur started both of Uruguay’s remaining friendlies as they dominated both South Korea and India, with a nice nostalgic Spurs moment in the former as Spurs legend Son Heung-min scored a late free kick to spare the Koreans some blushes.
Oh, also Mathys Tel scored five goals in four appearances for France U21’s, but ain’t nobody got time to write on age-grade internationals.
Here’s hoping the injuries picked up are not lasting and the big minutes played don’t result in too much exhaustion for Spurs’ squad.
I love international football.
Spurs International Appearances:
- Antonin Kinsky (unused sub x2; 90 mins, yellow card; unused sub): Czechia 1-2 Croatia; Czechia 0-2 England; Spain 3-1 England; England 3-0 Czechia – UEFA Nations League
- Martin Dubravka (unused sub; 90 mins; unused sub x2): Slovakia 2-0 Moldova; Slovakia 2-1 Kazakhstan; Faroe Islands 1-1 Slovakia; Moldova 0-4 Slovakia – UEFA Nations League
- Micky van de Ven (90 mins x4) & Jan Paul van Hecke (90 mins x2; not in squad x2): Netherlands 1-1 Germany; Serbia 1-2 Netherlands; Greece 2-2 Netherlands; Netherlands 2-1 Serbia – UEFA Nations League
- Ben Davies (90 mins x3; 83 mins): Portugal 1-0 Wales; Denmark 2-0 Wales; Wales 2-1 Norway; Wales 0-1 Denmark – UEFA Nations League
- Andy Robertson (90 mins, clean sheet; 90 mins; 90 mins, clean sheet; 90 mins): Slovenia 0-0 Scotland; Scotland 0-3 Switzerland; North Macedonia 0-2 Scotland; Scotland 1-2 Slovenia – UEFA Nations League
- Lucas Bergvall (90 mins x2; 14 mins, sub; 90 mins): Sweden 2-1 Romania; Sweden 3-1 Poland; Bosnia & Herzegovina 1-1 Sweden; Romania 0-1 Sweden – UEFA Nations League
- Sandro Tonali (90 mins x2; 62 mins; 20 mins, sub): Italy 0-2 Belgium; Turkey 1-4 Italy; France 1-1 Italy; Italy 3-1 Turkey – UEFA Nations League
- Rodrigo Bentancur (79 mins, yellow card; 90 mins; 63 mins): Japan 3-1 Uruguay; South Korea 1-4 Uruguay; India 1-6 Uruguay – Friendlies
- Omar Marmoush (50 mins, sub; 87 mins, 2 goals; 69 mins): Egypt 0-0 Angola; South Sudan 0-5 Egypt; Egypt 0-1 South Africa – AFCON Qualification x2; Friendly
