Man United Players On September International Duty, Part 2 - Stretty Rant (original) (raw)
Here is how Manchester United players fared on international duty this Saturday.
Netherlands v Bosnia
The Netherlands started their Nations League campaign with a comfortable 5-2 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Division A. Manchester United had their players play important parts in the match, both for positive and negative reasons. Joshua Zirkzee scored the opener for the Netherlands, before helping them restore the lead before half-time with an assist for Reijnders. Zirkzee’s performance earned him a man of the match award, but it was Matthijs De Ligt who caught the attention with his poor performance. New Man United signing had a nightmare of a match, being guilty for both Bosnia’s goals, thanks to his poor positioning and mistakes that on a different night could have cost the Dutch dearly. Even De Ligt himself said after the game he does not know what happened and why he was so off form in this match, but hopefully this will not hit his confidence too much. On the other hand, it was great seeing Zirkzee put in such a strong performance in the first half.
Ireland v England
Both Man United players started for England as well, in their first match post Euro 2024 final loss. England won 2-0 in Dublin against Republic of Ireland thanks to Declan Rice and Jack Grealish goals. Harry Maguire had a good game at centre-back alongside Marc Guehi, as part of a back four. He came off after 85 minutes for John Stones. As for Kobbie Mainoo, he played in central midfield as part of a 4-3-3 system, next to Rice and Grealish. During his 77 minutes, Mainoo earned a yellow card and was not as convincing as usual, but did a good enough job on the night. England will now face Finland, and clearly, they will be big favourites to win at home quite comfortably. This might be another chance for Maguire and Mainoo who have become regulars in the starting 11.
Uruguay v Paraguay
Man United fans will be happy to learn about Manuel Ugarte starting as the defensive midfielder in Marcelo Bielsa’s 4-3-3, as Uruguay drew 0-0 against Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America. It was a good performance from Ugarte, who played for 79 minutes and managed to hit astonishing eight long balls, spraying the ball all around the pitch, whilst still winning nine ground duels and managing to create one chance for his team. This was not the result Uruguay had hoped for, but they are still sitting comfortably in second place, behind just the world champions, Argentina.
Cameroon v Namibia
Cameroon made a good enough start in their qualifying group for the next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. They defeated Namibia 1-0 at home, thanks to a Vincent Aboubakar goal, and it was in this match we had once again the chance to see Andre Onana in goal for Cameroon. Man United goalkeeper did a good job to keep a clean sheet, collecting two saves in these 90 minutes. He was not too troubled in this match, as Cameroon dominated, but still just barely managed to snatch a win against a weak Namibia side.