Manchester United players are currently on the international break. The players are now all around the world playing friendly matches or participating in UEFA Nations League. Whatever the case is, there are less players than usual being part of the national squads. Fred was not in Brazil’s plans, Paul Pogba is recuperating from a recent injury, while Romelu Lukaku was not in the squad for Belgium’s match against Belgium.
Still, that does not mean there are no players involved at all. In the past two days, on Thursday and Friday, there were four Man United players in action and most of them had really good matches.
David De Gea For Spain
Let’s first start with the not so good news. Spain played on Thursday their third Nations League match, and it was against Croatia. The first match saw Spain beat the World Cup runners-up by an incredible scoreline of 6-0, but it was a completely different story this time. Croatia actually fought back in Zagreb, showing La Roja why they played in a World Cup final just four months ago.
David De Gea played all 90 minutes in Spain’s 3-2 loss which makes their group all the more complicated. It was not a great match for Man United’s number one, but it could have been even worse. Croatia had six shots on target throughout with just 33 percent of ball possession. It could have easily been more than three goals in their net, as the host team really showed proper spirit in front of their fans.
Jesse Lingard And Marcus Rashford For England
Match of the Thursday night was definitely played at Wembley. England hosted United States in Wayne Rooney’s final match for the Three Lions. It was his 120th match for England, as Wazza said goodbye to everyone at Wembley, but also a goodbye to the national team he gave so much to.
The match itself was a straightforward one, at least for the hosts. England won 3-0 with goals from Jesse Lingard, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Callum Wilson. It was Man United’s Lingard that produced another stunning goal in England shirt, scoring after 25 minutes at the edge of the box, picking the farther top corner with ease. Wayne Rooney replaced Lingard after 58 minutes, to mark his final match for the national team.
Alexander-Arnold’s goal came just two minutes after Lingard’s, while Wilson scored in the second half. England will now play against Croatia in a head-to-head clash to determine the standings in their Nations League group. The Three Lions could finish in each of the three positions.
Antonio Valencia For Ecuador
And another Manchester United player enjoyed a good night. The match between Peru and Ecuador was a friendly one and was played on Thursday by the Peruvian time, but we would classify it as Friday anyway. Ecuador won 2-0 in a match that is supposed to be a good kickstart to their hopes for the new CONMEBOL qualifiers for the next World Cup and Antonio Valencia was one of the goalscorers.
To make things more interesting, it was Enner Valencia who doubled their lead.
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