Internationals – dream debut for Cesay as Academy players shine, agony for Kulusevski

Players from our Academy took centre stage amid a hectic schedule on the international scene on Tuesday.

On a day where a total of 21 Spurs players faced fixtures with their countries – with another three in the early hours of Wednesday morning – it was Development Squad player Kallum Cesay who grabbed the headlines with two goals on his debut for Sierra Leone’s senior side as they saw off Congo-Brazzaville 2-1 in Turkey.

On the bench for the Leone Stars’ previous two fixtures against Togo (3-0 defeat on Thursday) and Liberia (1-0 win on Sunday), the versatile 19-year-old started on the right side of midfield and capped an impressive performance with both his nation’s goals, one of which came from the penalty spot, as they rounded off the Antalya Cup with another victory.

@SpursOfficial 19 years old @KallumCesay was highly impressive on his debut for Sierra Leone after scoring 2 goals against Congo Brazzaville.
Cesay’s brace helped Leone Stars to a 1:2 win against the Red Devils of Congo#LeoneStars #WeGoAgain #trusttheprocess #roadtoafcon2023 pic.twitter.com/yATlLlSKwA

— Sierra Leone Football Association (@SLFA_sl) March 29, 2022

Fellow Academy graduates Dane Scarlett and Troy Parrott were also among the goals, Dane scoring twice in the first half as England Under-19s won an important European Under-19 Championship qualifier 2-0 against Portugal in Chesterfield, while on-loan Troy netted a stunning 97th-minute winner from outside the box to give Republic of Ireland a 1-0 home victory over Lithuania in a senior friendly in Dublin. Dane had started for England Under-19s alongside Alfie Devine, who won the penalty that led to the striker’s second goal on the 40-minute mark, while Troy came on as a 63rd-minute substitute for Ireland, Matt Doherty completing the full game.

Also on target was Steven Bergwijn, who bagged his third goal in four days for the Netherlands as they came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Germany in a friendly in Amsterdam. Stevie arrived onto the ball in the box and blasted into the top corner just 10 minutes after coming on as a 58th-minute substitute.

However, Tuesday also brought despair for Dejan Kulusevski as Sweden failed in their attempts to reach the World Cup with a 2-0 defeat away to Poland in the play-offs. Dejan completed the full game for Sweden, who conceded twice after half-time to see their hopes of reaching the showpiece tournament dashed. There was joy, though, for on-loan Pape Matar Sarr, who came on as a substitute in extra time for Senegal as they beat Egypt 3-1 on penalties to qualify for the finals in Qatar later this year. The shootout came after a 1-0 win for Senegal on the night and a 1-1 draw on aggregate. Earlier in the day, Heung-Min Son played 90 minutes for already-qualified South Korea as they lost 1-0 away to UAE.

In senior international friendlies, Harry Kane played just under half-an-hour at the end of England’s 3-0 home win over Ivory Coast, for whom ex-Spur Serge Aurier was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg provided the assist for Denmark’s second goal as they won by the same scoreline at home to Serbia, the midfielder subsequently replaced mid-way through the second period. Joe Rodon came off the bench on the hour in Wales' 1-1 draw against Czech Republic. Goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Pierluigi Gollini were unused substitutes for France (5-0 home win over South Africa) and Italy (3-2 victory in Turkey) respectively.

Elsewhere, young defender Maksim Paskotsi was an unused substitute for Estonia as they lost 2-0 away to Cyprus in their UEFA Nations League relegation play-off, while on-loan Bryan Gil scored Spain Under-21s’ first goal in their 3-2 Euro qualifying victory away to Slovakia. He was substituted in the 82nd minute.

At Under-19 level, goalkeeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala played for France as they staged a late comeback to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1, while midfielder Matthew Craig was ever-present for Scotland in their 1-0 defeat to Israel, both in qualifying for the European Under-19 Championship. Attacker Renaldo Torraj completed 90 minutes for Albania Under-19s in a 2-2 friendly draw at home to Kosovo on Monday, having done likewise in a 2-0 defeat to the same opponents 48 hours earlier.

There was disappointment for our players in Tuesday’s European Under-17 Championship qualifiers, however, as England failed to reach the tournament finals after a 2-0 loss to Luxembourg, Rio Kyerematen playing the first 69 minutes and Jamie Donley coming off the bench around the same time that his Spurs team-mate was substituted. Will Andiyapan was a 64th-minute substitute for Wales Under-17s in their 4-2 defeat to Serbia, while Tom Bloxham played 90 minutes for Republic of Ireland Under-17s as they came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, two first team players were involved in the final round of matches in South America’s World Cup qualifying group during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Rodrigo Bentancur and Uruguay had already secured their passage to Qatar, and Rodrigo played 76 minutes as a starter as his side registered a 2-0 away win in Chile. Davinson Sánchez recorded a full 90 minutes with Colombia, as his side won 1-0 in Venezuela thanks to a penalty at the end of the first half. Unfortunately for Davinson, Colombia had already been eliminated from qualifying contention prior to the game.