Fulham FC International Break Report: October 2016

Senior

Jesse Joronen - Finland

Ragnur Sigurdsson - Iceland

Neeskans Kebano - DR Congo

Mattias Kait - Estonia

Stefan Johansen - Norway

Chris Martin - Scotland

Ragnur Siggurdson continues to add on to his impressive resume with Iceland as he played every minute of his country’s two wins in World Cup qualifying. They included a 2-0 win over Turkey and a dramatic 3-2 win over Jesse Joronen’s Finland side with Sigurdsson scoring the game winner at the end of stoppage time. With that, Iceland are continuing to shock the world at International football as they are tied with Croatia in their group and are hoping that all the good vibes from last summer’s Euros continues at the 2018 World Cup. Speaking of Joronen, the young goalkeeper did not feature in any of his countries World Cup qualifiers. The 23-year old still only holds two caps to his name.

Meanwhile, after being such a major contributor last month, Neeskans Kebano only saw seven minutes of action in the Democratic of Congo’s 1-0 loss to Kenya in last week’s friendly, followed by being an unused substitute in their 4-0 win over Libya to start group play in World Cup qualification. With a side full of players plying their trade in the top leagues in Europe, especially in the midfield and at forward, it isn’t that much of a surprise to see Kebano not feature as much as people would expect. Still, all hands will be need to be on deck for the National Team to qualify for their first World Cup appearance with Tunisia being their biggest challengers standing in their way.

Back in Europe, Mattias Kait has made the transition from PL2 player to Estonian International very nicely. The 18-year old scored his first two goals in his International career in his country’s 4-0 win over Gilbraltor. That being said, Kait did not feature in Estonia’s 2-0 loss to Greece. Meanwhile, these are trying times for Stefan Johansen was the 25-year old only came on as an 84th minute substitute in Norway’s 1-0 shocker to Azerbeijan. He was booked in the 92 minute and did not feature in Norway’s 4-1 win over San Marino four days later.

Lastly, Chris Martin was a part of the complete misery that is Scotland football. He played the full 90 minutes in his country’s 1-1 draw with Lithuania followed by being replaced by Steven Fletcher and not playing a single minute in the 3-0 loss to Slovakia.

Overall, this International break were not great times for some of the senior players at Fulham. It also didn’t help that Floyd Ayite, Michael Madl and Tomas Kalas were injured and could not represent their countries. Here is hoping their form does not translate to their future performances at club level.

Under 21

Lasse Vigen Christensen - Denmark

Marek Rodak - Slovakia

Sean Kavanagh - Ireland

George Williams - Wales

Once again, Lasse Vigen Christensen continues to put up an impressive resume as captain of the Danish Under-21 National Team. The attacking midfielder played every minute of his side’s two European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Luxembourg. Denmark would go on to outscore the opposition 7-1 during those two matches and finished comfortably on top of their qualification group. Do not be surprised if Denmark comes in as among the contenders of this Summer’s European Championships after making it to the semifinals in the same event in 2015.

Meanwhile, Marek Rodak did not feature in any of Slovakia’s two European Championship qualifiers. However, his national team was able to qualify over the Netherlands and Turkey and will also be in this Summer’s tournament.

Unlike Rodak, Sean Kavanagh was able to build on his 10 previous caps for Ireland at Under-21 level as he came on as a second half substitute in his side’s 3-1 loss to Serbia. Along with that, George Williams returned to International football by playing the full 90 minutes in Wales’ 3-1 win over Armenia’s Under-21 side.

Under 20

Marlon Fossey - United States

Luca De La Torre - United States

At the Under 20 level, two members of Fulham’s PL2 side were a part of the United States team competing in the Four Nations tournament in England. Sadly for fullback Marlon Fossey and attacking midfielder Luca De La Torre, their side lost all three games by a combined score of 8-3. During those three games, Fossey and De La Torre would get 160 and 201 minutes of action, respectively. Best case scenario is that this would be a learning experience for both of them playing against the best national teams in the world the week-long tournament featured England, Germany and the Netherlands.

Under 19

Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson - Iceland

Alti Andrasson - Iceland

Ryan Sessegnon - England

Tayo Edun - England

For two of Fulham’s academy players, they spent the last week playing in three games to qualify for the Elite Round stages of the European Under-19 Championships while representing Iceland. Sadly, it was not meant to be for midfielders Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson and Alti Andrasson as their country was only able to beat Latvia in a group that also featured Turkey and Ukraine. In the 2-0 loss to Ukraine, Thorsteinsson started, but was later sent off in the 81st minute after a second yellow card. He would return from suspension to play the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 win over Latvia. Meanwhile, Andrasson was used as a substitute in the Latvia win and in the 2-1 loss to Turkey.

Along with that, there were two youngsters that featured in England’s Under-19 squad for a couple of friendlies. Their qualification games for the European Championships won’t be until November. To add to the further amazement in Ryan Sessegnon’s season, the 16-year old fullback was selected for the Under-19s along with Tayo Edun. Both were a part of the starting eleven in England’s 3-1 over Croatia and were 60th minute substitutes in their 2-1 win over Bulgaria.

Under 18

Dennis Adeniran - England

Mikolaj Kwietniewski - Poland

Like Sessegnon and Edun, Dennis Adeniran was a key contributor in both of England’s Under 18 games this week. First, he was used as a starting midfielder in their 1-0 loss to Sweden followed by an 87th minute substitute 2-1 win over the same team three days later. As for Mikolaj Kwietniewski, he was an unused substitute during Poland’s two friendlies.