Manchester United had three players on international duty tonight, all fighting hard to win a World Cup spot for their nation.
Marcus Rashford
United’s on-loan attacker has had a mixed start to life in Barcelona but was called up for his country by Thomas Tuchel.
He started tonight’s clash with Serbia on the bench, but had a productive 21-minute spell on the pitch where he converted a late penalty to round off England’s 5-0 win.
On top of that he got two shots on target, bettered only by two starting players, and won one of the four duels he attempted.
He also managed a 90% pass completion with 18 of his 20 passes finding their man, and made one key pass in a solid showing.
Bruno Fernandes
United’s captain and talisman Bruno Fernandes had a night to forget for Portugal, even as they slipped past Hungary 3-2. Back in a more familiar number 10 role, Fernandes uncharacteristically struggled to make an impact on the match.
The 31-year-old was on the pitch for 66 minutes and was a non-existent goal threat, taking no shots in an otherwise dominant display from his side.
He found his man with 37 of his attempted 42 passes for a respectable completion rate of 88%, but lost the ball 15 times, more than any of his teammates – even those who played the full 90 minutes.
Fernandes also lost all six of the duels he attempted and made no defensive contributions.
Amad
Also in action in a CAF World Cup qualifier was Amad, who featured for the Ivory Coast against Gabon.
He completed 74 minutes in the goalless draw which kept his side just clear of tonight’s opponents at the top of their group.
Bryan Mbeumo and Andre Onana
Bryan Mbeumo and Andre Onana turned out for Cameroon as they lost 1-0 to Cape Verde. A full report on their exploits is coming shortly.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
