International

International Watch: Elneny on target for Egypt

Elneny for Egypt

We had seven player in international action on Saturday. Read on to find out how they fared for their countries.

Mohamed Elneny rounded off the scoring for Egypt, as they fired six past Niger without reply in their opening African Cup of Nations qualifier.

Marwan Mohsen broke the deadlock with a volleyed finish, before Ayman Ashraf doubled their advantage in the 20th minute with a simple finish from close range. Mohammed Salah converted the rebound from his missed penalty to make it three before half-time - and in the 73rd minute he’d assist substitute Salah Mohsen to make it four.

Salah then went on to score his second, before Elneny’s strike from distance wrong-footed the keeper and found its way into the back of the net.

Danny Welbeck played the final five minutes of England’s 2-1 defeat to Spain in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley Stadium. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring, but by half time Spain had bounced back and taken the lead thanks to goals from Saul Niguez and Rodrigo.

Welbeck for England

Deep into stoppage time Welbeck thought he’d scored the equaliser after firing home from close range, but the referee believed that our forward committed a foul in the build-up.  

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang salvaged a point for Gabon in their opening African Cup of Nations qualifier against Burundi.

Saido Berahino scored a debut goal and gave the visitors lead on the stroke of half-time, but after a strong attacking start to the second half, Aubameyang found space and made no mistake with the finish. 

David Ospina played the entirety of Colombia’s 2-1 friendly win over Venezuela.

Darwin Machis pounced on a chance inside the 4th minute to put the hosts in front, and despite Colombia’s relentless attacking pressure, they managed to go in at the break with their lead intact. But they couldn’t hold on and just 10 minutes the second half, Radamel Falcao equalised, before Yimmi Chara scored deep into stoppage time to complete the comeback.

Lucas Torreira played the first half of Uruguay's 4-1 friendly win over Mexico.

Jose Gimenez opened the scoring for Uruguay with a bullet header, but less than two minutes later, Mexico had equalised through Raul Jimenez, who converted from the spot.

Luis Suarez then went on to score a stunning free-kick from 20 yards in the second half, before extending their lead with a composed panenka penalty. Gaston Pereiro made it four with a diving header inside the box, following an inch-perfect rabona delivery from Suarez.

Granit Xhaka played 90 minutes of Switzerland’s 6-0 win over Iceland in the UEFA Nations League. 

Granit Xhaka for Switzerland

Xherdan Shaqiri made it three with a beautiful curling free-kick into the top left corner, after Steven Zuber and Denis Zakaria gave Switzerland a 2-0 lead at the break.

Haris Seferovic then scored their fourth from close range, which was shortly followed by goals from Albian Ajeti and Admir Mehmedi.

Elsewhere, Sokratis Papastathopoulos played 90 minutes of Greece's 1-0 win over Estonia in their opening UEFA Nations League fixture. 

It was a tightly contested game throughout, but Kostas Fortounis' early strike proved to be the difference between the two sides. 

Nigeria ran out 3-0 winners over Seychelles in their African Cup of Nations qualifier, but Kelechi Nwakali failed to feature.

Another seven of our stars could feature for their countries on Sunday and Tuesday.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

- Macedonia v ARMENIA, 5pm - Henrikh Mkhitaryan

- Denmark v WALES, 5pm - Aaron Ramsey 

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

- N/A 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

- JAPAN v Costa Rica, 11.20am (UK time) - Takuma Asano

- Hungary v GREECE, 7.45pm (UK time) - Sokratis

- ENGLAND v SWITZERLAND, 8pm (UK time) - Danny Welbeck, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Granit Xhaka