Tottenham Participation in ‘Break’ Will End with a Flurry
By Aaron Coe
After a handful of games over the last five days, Tottenham players participating in international duty will finish with a flurry over the next two days.
Tottenham Hotspur have had an eventful international break as Coronavirus and intraclub competition have dominated headlines, fortunately there are only two days left. Over these two days, there is more Tottenham versus Tottenham action on the agenda, as well as several meaningful Nations League games and qualifiers, along with one friendly.
Tottenham on Tuesday
Tottenham Hotspur could potentially have as many as eight players participating on Tuesday. Serge Aurier and Ivory Coast are scheduled to finish their home and home series with Madagascar in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. Given the likely loss of Matt Doherty, there will be a lot of eyes on Serge Aurier and his healthy during the match. If the prior match is any indicator, we should expect another physical battle.
Four other Spurs may be in qualifiers as well. Davinson Sanchez is slated to join up with his Columbia team who are desperately in need of a win in their World Cup qualifying campaign having just suffered their worst ever defeat as a nation without Sanchez on Friday to Uruguay. Additionally, Tottenham are likely to have at least one if not two players – Oliver Skipp and Brandon Austin – with the England U-21 team qualifying against Albania for the European Championships. Ryan Sessegnon was supposed to be with that group, but he is stuck in Germany due to Covid restrictions.
France, who are the only team already qualified for the Nations League Final Four, take on Sweden in what is essentially a meaningless game for Les Bleus. This means maybe, just maybe Hugo Lloris will get the night off after having a busy and effective evening against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. But that also means it is likely that Moussa Sissoko who is more of a squad player for France than a nailed-on starter will likely play.
Finally, please do not tell Jose Mourinho, but South Korea is playing a friendly against Qatar and one would expect captain and talisman Son Heung-Min to play for South Korea. We know Mourinho is not a big fan of friendlies of any kind, but we also know Son is a national hero and kind of needs to play.
Wednesday Warriors
The players who participate on Wednesday are at a major disadvantage for playing on Saturday. They have one less day of rest and for some like Giovani Lo Celso, the travel will mean not getting back to N17 until Thursday at the earliest, just 48 hours before Manchester City. Argentina is in a World Cup qualifier and it should be obvious to everyone the growing importance of Lo Celso to that team as Messi continues to carry less of the load.
From the Nations League, there is again Tottenham versus Tottenham action possible as Toby Alderweireld and Belgium are slated to take on Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Denmark. I saw slated as Højbjerg missed the first two matches of the break and still must catch up with his team. Given the winner of the match advances to the Final Four, expect both Spurs to play and likely go 90. The other seven Spurs potentially playing in Nations League games may have a different situation.
For Harry Kane, Eric Dier, and Harry Winks, England has already been eliminated from the Final Four and it would be best for all of them to have the evening off. Whether or not that happens is a different story, but it would be nice. Likewise, the Republic of Ireland having nothing beyond pride to play for, however Matt Doherty is out, and every Spurs fan everywhere would love to see Troy Parrott go 90. One can dream right?
While Gareth Bale, Ben Davies, Joe Rodon and Wales cannot reach the Final Four, they are actually playing for promotion to the A Group in the next Nations League in their match with Finland, so expect all three to play 90. Finally, there are the continued qualifiers for the U-21 European Championships, with Gedson Fernandes and Jack Roles set to feature for Portugal and Cyprus.
Tottenham have pretty much all of their available international players set to participate in the coming two days, we at HotspurHQ are hoping for continued health and good fortune, because all eyes will soon be turning to Manchester City and a seriously difficult schedule ahead.