Newcastle fans may not have any players in the England squad to keep an eye on, but they still have plenty of stars pulling on the national jersey for other countries.
Most of the headlines on Friday were around Fabian Schar’s fantastic goal for Switzerland, but he was not the only player in international action this week.
Miguel Almiron played for Paraguay in their friendly with Japan, new signing Emil Krafth was in the Sweden squad for the Euro Group F Qualifier against the lowly Faroe Islands, and Martin Dubravka was in goal for Slavakia in their qualifier against Croatia.
Fabian Schar (Switzerland) – vs Ireland
Schar was in scintillating form for the national side – as he has been for Newcastle this season – and capped off a great display with an absolutely spectacular team goal.
It gave his Swiss side the lead with just 16 minutes remaining in the game, but his glorious strike was cancelled out by Ireland’s David McGoldrick with just five minutes remaining.
It was a decent draw for Switzerland which leaves them third in the group, six points behind leaders Ireland, but they have played just three games, compared to Ireland’s five.
Emil Krafth (Sweden) – vs Faroe Islands
Krafth was named on the subtitutes bench for Sweden in a game that was expected to be an easy victory for the Scandinavian side.
The Newcastle defender came on at half-time for the Swedes, and his side were already four goals to the good.
There were no further goals, and the 4-0 win leaves Sweden second in Euro Qualifying Group F on 10 points, but still five adrift of group-topping Spain.
Miguel Almiron (Paraguay) – vs Japan
Almiron played the full 90 minutes of the friendly with Japan in Kashima, but could not prevent his side going down to a 2-0 defeat.
He will be in action again on Tuesday in a friendly in Jordan, and Newcastle will hope he is not too fatigued to feature in the early lunchtime kick-off at Liverpool, when he returns from his long-haul travels afterwards.
Martin Dubravka (Slovakia) – vs Croatia
The Newcastle keeper endured a difficult night as his Slovakia side were trounced in their home game against Croatia by four goals to nil.
The third goal came courtesy of a tremendous drag and turn by Petkovic, before he poked it past Dubravka, who got a hand on it, but could not prevent it finding the net.
It summed up the night for Newcastle’s number one, and leaves his national side clinging onto hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Euros, with them currently fourth in Group E on six points, three points behind leading pair Hungary and Croatia.
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