Seven Oxford United players spent the last week away on international duty, but how did they get on? We’ve got all the details right here.
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Oxford United and the International Break
International U’s
Ole Romeny made his first appearance since pre-season in a 3-2 World Cup qualifier defeat against Saudi Arabia.
The Indonesian came on as a second-half substitute and played the final 25 minutes of the fixture in Jeddah.
Mark Harris made his first Wembley appearance since the League One playoff final as he came on for the final 14 minutes of Wales’ 3-0 friendly defeat against England.
The Three Lions were three goals up inside 20 minutes with goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka.
There was also a defeat for the Wales U21s as they suffered a 7-0 loss at home against Belgium.
Luke Harris played 64 minutes at Rodney Parade and was deployed as a striker in the fixture.
It was a better result for Northern Ireland who picked up a 2-0 win against Slovakia in their World Cup qualifier.
Ciaron Brown, who was a surprise inclusion having not played since April, was left out but Brodie Spencer played the final five minutes at Windsor Park.
Greg Leigh was an unused substitute as Jamaica lost 2-0 against Curacao in a World Cup qualifier.
The result ended the Reggae Boyz’s unbeaten run in the group so far and they drop behind Curacao in the table ahead of a fixture at home against Bermuda on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Romeny made another substitute appearance as he played the final 34 minutes in a 1-0 loss to Iraq.
It was a frustrating display for the player and country, with Romeny picking up a booking and Indonesia failing to qualify for the World Cup.
It was a nightmare evening for Bulgaria, too, as they suffered their third consecutive World Cup qualifier defeat, losing 6-1 at home to Turkey.
Filip Krastev came on for the final 18 minutes in Sofia but the result was already as good as done.
More Minutes in the Tank
Onto the second game week and Brodie Spencer played the full 90 minutes as a right-wing-back in Northern Ireland’s 1-0 defeat against Germany.
The hosts took the lead at Windsor Park but it was ruled out for offside, with Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade scoring the only goal of the game.
Wales also lost at home but did take the lead in their 4-2 defeat against Belgium.
Mark Harris started the fixture and played 86 minutes at the Cardiff City Stadium, where he had three shots on goal, one of which was off target and the other two blocked.
Another defeat, but one with a player who played some valuable minutes, was Filip Krastev with Bulgaria. His side lost 4-0 in Spain but the attacking midfielder played the full 90 minutes against the current European champions.
There was a vital win for Wales U21s in Austria with Luke Harris coming off the bench to get just under half an hour.
The final game came from Kingston as Jamaica returned to the top of their group with a 4-0 win over Bermuda.
Greg Leigh played the full 90 minutes for the Reggae Boyz so it’s likely he’ll begin on the bench when the U’s welcome Derby at the weekend.
