International Round-Up

As the international break comes to a close, we take a look at how our players fared on international duty.

Club captain Brad Lyons was part of the Northern Ireland squad, who narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification following defeat to Italy in the semi-final of the UEFA qualifying play-offs. Italy would go on to lose to Bosnia & Herzegovina on penalties in the final.

Lyons was an unused substitute in the opening match but featured for the final 30 minutes in Northern Ireland’s 1–1 draw with Wales on Tuesday.

Findlay Curtis made his full international debut for Scotland, coming off the bench with 10 minutes remaining in a narrow 1–0 defeat to Japan at Hampden Park.

Curtis then travelled with the squad to Liverpool to face Ivory Coast at the newly built Hill Dickinson Stadium, where he remained an unused substitute.

David Watson once again captained the Scotland U21s across two fixtures. He completed the full 90 minutes in a goalless draw against Czechia at Dens Park before travelling to Portugal for their second match.

Watson featured for 45 minutes in that encounter, as Scotland were defeated 3–0.

Michael Schjønning-Larsen travelled the furthest afield, representing Estonia in the newly formed FIFA Series.

He played the full 90 minutes in their opening match against Kenya in Rwanda, with the contest going straight to penalties under the competition’s format. Schjønning-Larsen converted his spot-kick as Estonia secured a 5–4 shootout victory.

Estonia then faced Rwanda in their second match, with Schjønning-Larsen playing the final 30 minutes of a 2–0 defeat.

Archie Traynor represented Scotland U19s during their UEFA European U19 Championship qualifying campaign. He featured in all three fixtures, starting with a 3–0 defeat to Italy. Traynor then came off the bench for the final 20 minutes in a 3–3 draw with Ireland, before playing 75 minutes in an impressive 3–0 victory over Poland.

Cole Burke was also selected for the squad but unfortunately had to withdraw.