Swansea players in international action - Roundup

Who featured for their international sides? How did they do?

With a couple of our boys in action, let's have a look to see who was involved.

Wales 3 - 1 Iceland (Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Ben Davies)

Interestingly, Chris Coleman preferred Neil Taylor to Ben Davies - the latter only coming on in the 88th minute for Hal Robson-Kanu. Ashley Williams managed to score Iceland's only goal by deflecting the ball past Wayne Hennessey, but other than that the Welsh defence held firm. I feel bad for Jazz not getting an opportunity, but he's definitely in the picture and if he can force his way into the Swans' first team more often he's likely to see more international action. As for the game itself, Gareth Bale had a hand in all three goals (scoring & assisting one, while his shot led to the other), and the win will be a welcome boost to the Welsh team's confidence ahead of their impending European Cup qualification campaign.

Belgium 2 - 2 Ivory Coast (Wilfried Bony)

I love that we have an Ivory Coast international on our books. I probably won't enjoy it as much when the African Cup of Nations comes around, but for now it's still making me smile, and Wilfried Bony will have something to smile about if sketchy match reports are to believed. 2-0 down until the 74th minute when Drogba got a goal back, Bony came on for Yaya Toure in the 83rd minute and his header deep in injury time was originally saved, but caused a scramble which saw Max Gradel equalise. 

Greece 0 - 2 South Korea (Ki Sung-Yueng - on loan at Sunderland)

A look at the stats would seem to suggest that while Greece had a good few opportunities the Koreans retained possession much like I'd expect any team that includes Ki Sung-Yueng to. He didn't get any goals or assists, but it's good to see him back playing for the national team after his little spat threatened to cast a cloud over his international career.

England U21 1 - 0 Wales U21 - (Lee Lucas, Scott Tancock)

As I'm looking at these games with a distinctly Swansea-centric pair of glasses on, I might as well mention that this game was decided by a strike from a player the Swans were linked with, and indeed made a bid for - Nathan Redmond. His solo effort proved the difference and it's a shame that Gwion Edwards (on the bench) didn't get a chance to feature, while Daniel Alfei wasn't even on the bench - on Twitter he said he was travelling so I assume he's fit. Pity. It seems (from match reports and statistics) that Wales were perhaps fortunate not to concede more, but considering the England team contained a raft of Premier League regulars that's no real surprise. Onwards and upwards for the lads, and they'll learn a lot by playing against players of that calibre.

Elsewhere, Michel Vorm didn't feature for Holland (though after being out through injury for a while that's possibly to be expected), while Roy Hodgson continues to ignore Leon Britton. The injustice of it. With internationals out of the way, the Swansea squad can now get to work preparing for the next league outing against West Brom, and Garry Monk & co will no doubt have plenty of ideas they'll be looking to implement during the extended "rest period". 

Thankfully, it seems everyone who did feature in internationals seems to have come through unscathed, so now they can get back to their primary focus; making Swansea City mathematically safe from relegation. Every game from here on in is a cup final. 

Thinking about it, we've done alright in finals of late...

Swansea players in international action - roundup & highlights

Who featured for their respective national sides this weekend?

Once again we're embroiled in the midst of an international break, and once again news and talking points of a Swansea City variety are limited. With that in mind, I thought I'd have a look at the Swansea players who have been in action for their various international sides. 

Wales 1 - 1 Finland

Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Ben Davies, Jazz Richards

It says something about Wales' adoption of a passing style that as well as the four players listed above there were another two ex-Swans in the starting lineup (Sam Ricketts & Joe Allen), as well as a further three on the bench (Jermain Easter, Owain Tudur-Jones & David Cotterill). Nine players in the squad with a Swansea connection can only be a good thing for both club and country.

As for last night's match, the Swansea City leanings continued. Wales seemed to be coasting to a 1-0 victory thanks to an Andy King header, but with the game deep into added time Finland capitalised on a loose header - sending forward Riku Riski through. He still had a lot to do, but got in front of the two men chasing him and finished well past Hennessey. Coleman will hope that sort of thing doesn't start to haunt his side like it has the Swans in recent times. 

Williams and Taylor had started the match, before late on Richards & Davies replaced Gunter & Taylor respectively. Hopefully we'll see more young Swansea players making the grade at international level. The future's bright, the future's white and all that.

South Korea 2 - 1 Switzerland

Ki Sung-Yueng

He might be out on loan, but he's still our player and I want it to stay that way. Delivered the corner which was headed in for Korea's equaliser on the 60 minute mark.

Senegal 1 - 1 Ivory Coast

Wilfried Bony

Travelled the best part of 2,000 miles, and didn't get off the bench. Harsh, considering he scored twice last weekend and is by some way the Swans' top scorer! Unlike the Swans & Wales, Ivory Coast themselves benefited from a 94th minute goal from Solomon Kalou, which tied the game up after Moussa Sow had put Senegal in front from the penalty spot.

Japan 2 - 2 Holland

Jonathan De Guzman

Not much to write home about here, to be honest. At one point Michel Vorm & Dwight Tiendalli both accompanied JDG on his forays abroad with the Dutch team, however they've both lost their places as form for the club has dropped off. De Guzman came on for one of Holland's goalscorers, Rafael Van Der Vaart, with the game already having delivered it's main course. Holland went two nil up before Japan got one back before half time, and then the hosts equalised in the 60th minute. De Guzman only entered the fray after 78 minutes, and it's unlikely he had much chance to influence goings on. It's worth watching the highlights, however, as Robben & Honda's goals are absolutely delightful - the latter in particular being a joy to watch if you like short sharp passes.

Bosnia Herzegovina U21s 1 - 6 Spain U21s

Jordi Amat

It appears the young Spaniards got off to a slow start before brushing aside their hosts. They went behind in the 15th minute, but were 3-1 up at half time thanks partially to an own goal and a stoppage time penalty. It shouldn't be underplayed how highly Amat is rated by the Spanish authorities - they've been called the best team in the history of football for a reason and if they rate Amat as one for the future perhaps we should be kinder on him. I've been critical in the past (only occasionally, mind) but there's obviously a good player there. I do feel though that he'd benefit from an extra stone of muscle, but at 21 he's got plenty of time to develop both physically and tactically.

If I've missed anyone out, please feel free to give me some grief...

Bony hoping to complete clean sweep for Swansea's internationals

With Michu, Vorm & Neil Taylor all involved in wins in their internationals last night, Bony will be hoping to send Ivory Coast one step closer to the World Cup

I thought I'd do something of an "international watch", seeing as we've got very little to talk about this weekend and a few of our players have been involved in their countries respective international exploits. Pleasingly, the three players who played last night were all involved in wins which should help instil some confidence ahead of their return to the squad, although there is still another round of fixtures to come. 

Wilfried Bony looks likely to be involved in Ivory Coast's World Cup qualifier against Senegal today, and he'll be looking to get back into the goalscoring habit after a quiet couple of weeks. Strikers live on confidence, and scoring at international level would no doubt help a player who Michel Vorm this week called "a monster". 

With three different countries already having utilised players plying their trade in SA1 however, let's have a look at how they got on. 

Wales

Neil Taylor 

Wales had suffered what must surely be a record number of withdrawals from the squad, but in fairness they produced their best performance for quite some time. Inspired by Aaron Ramsey throughout, they triumphed one-nil over Macedonia thanks to a well worked goal finished by Simon Church, although it should have been 2-0 as Ramsey failed to convert a penalty he'd earned himself.

Neil Taylor played 90 minutes at right-back, and seeing as he's been struggling for minutes on the pitch this stands him in good stead for two reasons. Firstly, and obviously, any ninety minute runout obtained by a player not currently nailed on for a first-team berth is undoubtedly good news, as match fitness is crucial at the top level, and secondly it's further evidence that, if needed, Tayls can operate on the opposite side of defence to where we're used to seeing him play, despite being predominantly left-footed. 

With Dwight Tiendalli receiving criticism for his recent performances in the absence of Angel Rangel, and fellow Wales international Jazz Richards on loan at Huddersfield (Jazz didn't make it off the bench last night, sadly) Taylor has a real chance of featuring at right-back for the Swans before the season is out, even if Laudrup has so far seemed reluctant to deploy him on the right-hand side. Hopefully Wales can put on a good showing against Belgium (gulp!), which will give Taylor & Richards some confidence before they head back to club duty.

Holland

Michel Vorm

This is the game I didn't manage to watch any of last night, and it seems it's probably one I should have! It finished 8-1 to the men in orange, and rarely will you see a more lopsided scoreline in international football between two sides who are both supposed to take this kind of thing seriously. San Marino, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg...these are all sides you'd expect to be on the end of a schooling, but given Hungary's illustrious football past (which relied heavily on Puskas, granted) this will be a result which is hard to swallow.

It's a shame that Vorm couldn't collect a clean sheet to add to his team's eight goals, but seeing as the only goal they conceded was from a penalty conceded by Jeffrey Bruma for handball, the Dutch management won't be concerned. It seems as far as easy runouts go for goalkeepers, this was a particularly unchallenging one. Still, another win and hopefully Vorm can start to cement his place as Holland's no1.

Spain

Miguel Michu

When it was announced Michu was starting, I was very excited indeed. As someone on Twitter pointed out, that meant the Swans had supplied Holland with their goalkeeper as well as current World & European Champions Spain with their centre-forward. Mental.

They were up against a Belarus side who parked the bus spectacularly. Until Xavi's opener in the 61st minute Spain had struggled to create anything and if I'm honest Michu's debut was quite underwhelming - that being said though I think anyone asked to play his position in Spain's system would have had a frustrating night. Belarus had, for large swathes of the game, two banks of defenders which included pretty much their entire team, and it surprised me Spain didn't drop deeper in order to stretch the game. They seemed intent on ploughing through the mêlée but never looked liked doing so in the first half.

Sadly for Michu, he was replaced in the 57th minute by Alvaro Negredo, so it could well be that it's viewed that Negredo's arrival changed the game in Spain's favour. Whether that was the case I wouldn't like to say, however I did feel that as Belarus tired the game would open up, and Negredo's goal (Spain's second) was exactly the type Michu loves gobbling up. Hopefully he'll get another chance to show what he can do, and with Georgia up next you'd imagine he'll get some minutes off the bench at the very least.

That being said, do we want him to score? I got thinking about this last night. First of all, I wanted him to bang in a hat-trick, but then I thought "What would happen if he did?". Big clubs would come in for him, that's what. Playing for Spain puts you in an elite class which clubs look to for new signings when things aren't going their way, and with his goalscoring exploits in the Premier League already going far from unnoticed, further success at international level could well prove a catalyst for big club interest. So it was that sad as it was for Michu I wasn't too nonplussed to see him leave the field without a goal. 

Call me selfish if you want. I'm a Swans fan not a Spaniard. 

It would have been nice to hear the Spanish commentators screaming "MICHUUUUUUUUUU!!!!", mind...

Ashley Williams pulls out of Wales squad

Swansea captain withdraws from international contention

I'm sure this will be greeted with grins from lots of Swansea supporters, but it leaves Chris Coleman a remarkable ten players short for what was already hardly a world-beating Wales squad.

"Cookie", once of Swansea City himself, could be forgiven for thinking the footballing gods are conspiring against him, but Ash needs rest and ultimately this will be good for him. He never misses games, so if he's had to sit out the last few it's clearly a fairly serious problem, and playing through the pain barrier is ultimately something that should be avoided at all costs. Hopefully he'll come back fit and raring to go after the international break.

I'm sure the man himself is gutted, but with Wales's chances of qualifying already all but mathematically impossible there's no way he should risk it, and I'm glad he's ruled out the possibility of featuring for Wales if he's not fully fit. Hurry up and get fit as quick as you can Ash, boy do we miss you!

Michu called up to Spanish squad: "I found out on the bus!"

Spaniard's hard work pays off with selection for arguably the greatest national side of all time

Miguel Michu, take a bow. Actually, do one of those little flamenco jigs you've done on occasion as a goalscoring celebration, because it's probably slightly more in-keeping with the national team you've been selected for.

Since joining for £2million ahead of last season, Michu has continued to confound critics who must surely have been expecting his performance level to drop off. I'll be honest, I was among those who were seriously dubious about his ability to maintain the blistering standard he set himself in the first few weeks of last season, but apart from a bit of a lull (which he wasn't alone in experiencing - the same could be said of the whole team) between winning the League Cup and the end of last season he's easily been our stand out performer since joining the club.

What's more, this season I'd argue he looks a much improved player. His appreciation of his role behind the striker seems to have increased dramatically and the midfield aspect to his game really is so, so much better than last year. Ball retention, key passes and other stats back this up, showing that his all-round game rivals that of almost any top-flight striker.

For his part, Michu admits to being both surprised and elated when he found out he'd been selected to replace injury victim David Villa, who's gone down with an ankle injury picked up this weekend:

"It's the best a footballer can hope for. The selection is the best team in the world, it's a privilege. 

"We were on the bus because we played in the morning and I started receiving many messages, which is not normal. Then some Spanish colleagues told me, I'm very happy." 

"Every Spanish footballer dreams of this and it's so difficult. Few people can wear the shirt of the best team in the world.

"There are a lot of players missing, but there are great players in the squad. Let's see if fortune is with me and I can play, although I'm already grateful to be called up.

"It's the maximum to which a footballer can aspire. The national team is the best in the world, it's a privilege.

"I'm enjoying it like a kid, these are the best players in the world and it will be complicated, but I'll try to take advantage of the opportunity." 

Miguel Michu

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/michu-says-he-s-very-happy-found-out-on-the-bus-and-is-excited-li 
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11731/8961982?

That quote is taken from Spanish footie paper Marca (why don't we have a decent football newspaper?!), and it's not just them who are interested in this particular story. The broadsheet El Confidencial recalled that Valencia were interested in signing the forward, however baulked at the £2million asking price. Ha! How does that feel, chaps? The paper also goes on to touch on how Michu has never been afraid to ask for advice from coaches and teammates in a bid to be the best player possible, and also that he's worked his cojones off so far in his career. 

No-one can argue he doesn't deserve this, and considering the two games he's been called up for are qualifiers against Belarus & Georgia it seems there's a good chance he'll feature. It really is an accolade for both the player and his parent club that he's been selected for Spain - if someone had said ten years ago we'd have a player called up by the World Cup and European Cup champions...well, you'd be questioning that person's sanity, at the very least.

Hopefully the English hierarchy can learn a thing or two from this. Roberto Soldado and Fernando Llorente have both been overlooked despite playing for "bigger teams", and the continued English refusal to acknowledge players plying their trade at clubs outside the boy's-club-esque top six shows the difference between the two outlooks. One is progressive, and has resulted in unheralded success, and one is archaic and hasn't achieved anything in fourty-seven years. Work out which one is which.

Hopefully Michu will be rewarded for all his hard work so far with some time on the pitch alongside some of the world's best players. Next up, Leon for England...

Jonjo Shelvey scores a screamer for England U21's

Young midfielder bags himself a peach as England run riot over Scotland

I'm putting this blog up more or less entirely so you can see the goal - it's pretty damn tasty.

Shelvey was replaced shortly after scoring, and as a Swans fan the idea of him playing around 60 minutes is a lot more preferable than the idea of him playing the full 90, what with Manchester United now only three days away. Thank Christ Stuart Pearce wasn't in charge for this one...

Those who watched the game last night were effusive in their praise for the ex-Liverpool & Charlton midfielder, with many referring to him as "the best player on the pitch by a mile". It seems any doubts anyone had about the size of his transfer fee are set to be pushed firmly to one side, as Shelvey continues to impress in the short time that he's been with us so far. I for one was dubious, but I've been made to (happily) eat my words as he already looks a player well worth the £5million which was required to see him make the switch from Merseyside to South Wales.

Hopefully come 5pm on Saturday we're all discussing another Shelvey screamer - the winner against Manchester United. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?