Everton International Round-Up: Two Injury Concerns for Blues

It was an eventful international break for Everton’s players, with several getting on the scoresheet, while one young player caught the eye in a different position. Unfortunately, there were a couple of injury concerns too.

Michael Keane + Jordan Pickford - England

Outstanding week for Michael Keane. The big centre-half made his first start for England since 2017 in the 5-0 win over Czech Republic at Wembley, before scoring his first international goal as England came from 1-0 down to smash five past Montenegro too.

Jordan Pickford also kept his place between the sticks despite some recent criticism and looked solid.

Seamus Coleman - Republic of Ireland

There were two wins for Ireland too, with Seamus Coleman captaining his side to back-to-back 1-0 wins. The first came in blustery conditions in Gibraltar, before Mick McCarthy’s side earned another over Georgia in Dublin, meaning they, like England, are early group leaders.

Kurt Zouma + Lucas Digne - France

Despite getting recalls to the French squad, neither Kurt Zouma nor Lucas Digne saw any action. Indeed, a hamstring injury caused Digne to leave the squad early and return to Finch Farm for treatment. He’s now unlikely to feature at West Ham United on Saturday.

Richarlison – Brazil

Two more starts for Richarlison, who featured on the right side of a three-man attack alongside Roberto Firmino and Phillippe Coutinho. Brazil were held to a surprise 1-1 draw with Panama, before beating Czech Republic 3-1 on Tuesday.

Yerry Mina - Colombia

Another injury concern for Everton (and yet another for Mina), as he was forced off before half-time in Colombia’s 2-1 defeat to South Korea with a suspected hamstring injury from a fairly innocuous-looking challenge.

Gylfi Sigurdsson - Iceland

Sigurdsson is now up to 37 starts for the season as he helped Iceland to a 2-0 win over Andorra, before suffering a hefty 4-0 defeat at the hands of France.

Cenk Tosun - Turkey

Cenk got some much-needed minutes under his belt as he completed Turkey’s back-to-back wins over Albania and Moldova, even grabbing a brace in the latter. Watch his two goals below.

Idrissa Gana Gueye - Senegal

Gueye helped Senegal confirm top stop in the AFCON qualifying group with a 2-0 win over Madagascar. He was then thankfully rested for their midweek friendly win over Mali.

Nikola Vlasic - Croatia

The CSKA loanee came off the bench to help Croatia to a 2-1 win over Azerbaijan.

Henry Onyekuru – Nigeria

The striker, on loan at Galatasaray, did his work permit hopes no harm with two appearances and one goal for the Super Eagles. See his goal in the 3-1 victory in the video below (3:07).

Under 21s

Jonjoe Kenny captained England under 21’s in their 1-1 draw with Poland, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed the Three Lions’ only goal. Kieran Dowell also impressed in a holding midfield role, which may intrigue Blues fans. Ademola Lookman and Tom Davies were also involved.

Four of Everton’s England under-21 internationals were again involved in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat, with only Kenny not seeing any action.

It was a massive week for Shayne Lavery, who is enduring a difficult loan spell at Falkirk FC currently, grabbing two winning goals for Northern Ireland as they beat Bulgaria and Mexico in friendlies in Marbella, Spain. Watch his goals below.