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Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
A place in midfield for England’s 7-0 romp over North Macedonia will fuel the dreams of the Trent into midfield crowd.
Never mind the supposed offseason, if it’s a day that ends in -day, chances are there’s football to talk about somewhere—with some of it likely involving Liverpool. And so today we have another batch of internationals from the past 24 hours to talk about.
The most interesting match of the lot might be England’s 7-0 romp over North Macedonia, which follows on from their 4-0 romp over Malta as the Three Lions beat up on the fringes of European competition as part of their Euros 2024 qualification campaign.
Interesting is the word here as it was the second game in a row where England manager Gareth Southgate has played Trent Alexander-Arnold as part of a midfield three, on this occasion alongside Declan Rice in the six and club teammate Jordan Henderson.
Laughers over Malta and North Macedonia don’t say a lot as to whether Alexander-Arnold is especially suited to such a role against top competition at the club or international level, but for the Trent into midfield crowd it will fuel dreams at least into pre-season.
Monday’s victory also marks England’s final internationals until the autumn, with the players now off until clubs reconvene in about three weeks. It will also be the final international action of the summer for France’s Ibrahima Konaté and Greece’s Kostas Tsimikas.
The duo started for their respective countries in a qualifier that ended 1-0 in favour of Group B leaders France. Meanwhile, Caoimhin Kelleher was on the bench for Ireland vs. Gibraltar and Alexis Mac Allister wasn’t used in Argentina’s friendly against Indonesia.
While Monday’s slate signals the end of summer internationals for most Liverpool players, the U21 Euros mean Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott will be in action with England on Thursday when they take on the Czechs. Games against Israel and Germany follow.
