London is Blue Dispatch #038

Another international break brings with it a much-needed breather before a frenetic final quarter of the season gets underway. Here’s everything you may have missed during the international break and how the boys in blue fared.

The Good

Barely a fortnight after scoring the winner against Newcastle, Mykhailo Mudryk notched another invaluable goal in a comeback win over Iceland in a crucial playoff tie, ensuring Ukraine made it to Euro 2024. His celebration, however, was not quite impressive, with his kneeslide failing and almost dislocating his kneecap. All worth it in the end though.

Noni Madueke scored and assisted twice each in a 7-0 thrashing of Luxembourg, making it four goals and two assists in his last three games for club and country.

Cole Palmer did not feature in either of England’s games, while Gallagher featured for 75 minutes against Brazil and Chilwell played 60+ against Brazil and Belgium.

Marc Cucurella was on the bench for the 0-1 loss to Colombia but played the full 90 in the entertaining 3-3 draw against Brazil.

In South America, Enzo Fernandez featured twice for Argentina, playing a half in the win against El Salvador and completed 82 minutes in the win against Costa Rica. The Argentinian midfielder is a doubt to face Burnley due to the grueling return journey.

Nicolas Jackson started and played 64 minutes of Senegal’s game against Gabon and came on at the 64^th minute mark in the second game vs Benin.

The Bad

Carney Chukwuemeka and Malo Gusto both returned to Cobham early from U21 duty due to fitness concerns. While Gusto is expected to be fit, there is no concrete word on the availability of Carney, but there is hope he can build on his game-changing goal against Leicester.

Đorđe Petrović played in Serbia’s game against Russia but endured a torrid evening during a 4-0 loss. Petrovic managed a couple of very good saves, but was also left wanting on several occasions, including a deflected 30 yard effort from Arsen Zakharyan for which he stood still (luckily the goal was ruled out.) It could have ended much worse.

The Ugly

Multiple Ecuador players were caught partying after a 2-0 win vs Guatemala in New York, with 16-year-old Kendry Paez pictured illegally in a strip club. The Ecuadorian FA put out a statement reiterating that curfew was not broken, but also condemned the behaviour of the players involved. According to Matt Law of The Telegraph, Paez is expected to avoid serious punishment but was left emotionally shaken by the scandal.

Romeo Lavia was ruled out for the rest of the 23/24 season after a setback in his rehabilitation from a thigh injury sustained in his only appearance of the year against Crystal Palace.

Chelsea take on Burnley next on the 30th of March, before welcoming Manchester United to Stamford Bridge.