Promotions and goals galore for our boys in November internationals

It's been a busy couple of weeks with 24 of our players in action for their countries across the break.

In the UEFA Nations League, there were promotions for Dominic Solanke's England, Brennan Johnson and Ben Davies with Wales, Radu Dragusin's Romania, and for Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall with Sweden.

Heung-Min Son reached his half century of goals for Korea as he closes in on becoming his nation's all-time record goalscorer, Cristian Romero's Argentina side are top of their World Cup qualifying group, five points clear of Rodrigo Bentancur's Uruguay in second, whilst Yves Bissouma's Mali booked their spot in next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

In the younger age groups, Will Lankshear and Dane Scarlett both scored on duty with their respective England youth team and goalkeeper Aaron Maguire made his debut for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s.

Heung-Min Son

Sonny scored his 50th and 51st goals for South Korea, slotting home a 19th-minute penalty against Kuwait to reach his half century, before following it up with another goal against Palestine next time out.

He’s now eight goals away from becoming South Korea’s outright all-time top scorer and is six games away from becoming their most-capped player with 131 appearances for his nation so far.

A 3-1 win over Kuwait and a 1-1 draw against Palestine are enough to keep the side top of their World Cup qualifying group, three points clear of Iraq in second as they pass the halfway stage.

Ben Davies & Brennan Johnson

It was a dream ending to the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League campaign for Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson, topping their group to win promotion to League A, even though Turkey entered the final matchday top of the group.

After a 0-0 draw with the group leaders in Kayseri, Craig Bellamy's side entered the final day with a slim chance of automatic promotion only for Montenegro pull off a shock 3-1 win over Turkey in Nikšić.

That put the Dragons in pole position as they faced Iceland, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring through Andri Gudjohnsen - son of former Spur, Eidur (754) - after just seven minutes.

Before half-time though, Wales had turned the game on its head with Brennan assisting the leveller before Liam Cullen grabbed his second on just before the break. Our number 22 then got on the scoresheet himself for the third and Harry Wilson finished the scoring to send the home fans into delirium.

Ben completed a full 180 minutes across the two fixtures wearing the armband in both, whilst Brennan completed 179 minutes and notched two goal involvements.

Dejan Kulusevski & Lucas Bergvall

There were also promotion celebrations for Sweden, who return to Group B at the first time of asking.

Jon Dahl Thomasson's side dominated their group, winning five of their six games and only dropping points once - a 2-2 draw with Slovakia back in October.

This time out they beat 10-man Slovakia 2-1 in Stockholm, before finishing the group in style by hammering Azerbaijan 6-0 at the Strawberry Arena - with Dejan bagging a brace in that rout as well as an assist.

Deki completed the full 180 minutes across both fixtures, notching three goal involvements and wearing the armband in the second fixture, whilst Lucas picked up his fourth cap thanks to a 23-minute cameo against Azerbaijan.

Pedro Porro & Bryan Gil

Spain have qualified for the Nations League quarter-finals having also gone unbeaten in their group in League A.

Luis de la Fuente's side picked up 16 points thanks to five wins and a draw, dominating their group to finish eight points clear of second-placed Denmark.

This time out, they edged an evenly contested game with Denmark to run out 2-1 winners at Parken Stadium, before being pegged back twice by Switzerland before eventually taking the points thanks to a 93rd-minute penalty from Bryan Zaragoza.

Bryan Gil grabbed his first senior goal for his country in that five-goal thriller, capitalising on a moment of indecision in the Swiss defence just eight minutes after coming on, deftly dribbling past a defender before firing it across the keeper with his left foot.

Pedro was an unused substitute in that game, but completed the 90 in the 2-1 win over Denmark in Copenhagen.

Radu Dragusin

Romania completed their group by winning six out of six to earn promotion to League B.

Radu's nation were awarded a 3-0 win over Kosovo after the game was abandoned late on in Bucharest on Saturday before they enjoyed dominant 4-1 win over Cyprus - a result which was enough to lift them above Sweden and North Macedonia in the ranking of Nations League group winners. That could be key next November when seedings for the World Cup qualifying play-offs are finalised.

Radu completed 158 minutes across the two fixtures, completing the full 90 against Kosovo before starting against Cyprus and coming off in the 68th minute.

Guglielmo Vicario & Destiny Udogie

Italy have secured a Nations League quarter-final tie with Germany having finished as runners-up in Group A2 on goal difference.

A 1-0 win against Belgium put the Azzurri in pole position to top the group going into the final matchday, with a draw good enough to win the group.

However France ran out 3-1 winners at the San Siro, which was enough to see them take top spot by just a single goal.

Vic picked up his fourth cap in that game, whilst Destiny made substitute appearances in both games, completing 28 minutes.

Dominic Solanke

England gained promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League thanks to back-to-back wins against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

The Three Lions entered the final couple of games second in the group and needed to defeat then group leaders Greece in Athens to have any chance of winning the group, and did so, eventually winning 3-0 in the Greek capital thanks to an early strike from Ollie Watkins and two goals in the final 13 minutes.

That moved them into top spot ahead of a fiery contest with the Republic of Ireland which saw a cagey first-half finish 0-0 before Liam Scales saw red for the Boys in Green. Lee Carsley's men then fired home five goals in 26 second-half minutes to finish in style.

Dom picked up his third cap at Wembley, coming on against the Republic for the final 15 minutes.

Manor Solomon

It was disappointment for Manor and Israel as they were relegated from League A, finishing bottom of Group A2.

Manor's nation picked up four points from their two fixtures thanks to a respectable 0-0 draw with France, before a late 1-0 win against Belgium in Budapest, but it was enough to survive the drop.

The results drew them level on points with the Belgians, however they were relegated on goal difference as they went into the final fixture needing a six-goal swing in their favour.

Manor was captain for the second time in three games against France, racking up 72 minutes, before completing the 90 in the victory over Belgium.

Yves Bissouma & Pape Matar Sarr

Both Mali and Senegal picked up back-to-back wins without conceding as they cruised through qualifying for next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

Yves picked up two goal involvements in two games, providing the assist for Kamory Doumbia's winner away at Mozambique before his side romped to a 6-0 win against Eswatini, again providing the assist for second goal that evening.

He was captain in both games, completing the full 90 against Mozambique and 45 minutes against Eswatini as Les Aigles topped Group I.

Whilst, for Pape Matar Sarr's Senegal, Habib Diarra's 83rd-minute strike was enough to take all three points against second-placed Burkina Faso, before he scored a brace to make the difference against Burundi five days later.

That was enough to ensure the Lions de la Téranga topped the group by six points with Pape picking up two and 87 minutes in each game respectively to earn his 28th and 29th caps.

Cristian Romero & Rodrigo Bentancur

Cuti won his 40th cap for Argentina in a 2-1 defeat to Paraguay, before missing their 1-0 victory against Peru due to the arrival of his daughter Lucy on Tuesday.

La Albiceleste still top the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying table and are 12 points clear of Bolivia in the final play-off place with six games left to play.

Second in the table are Rodrigo Bentancur's Uruguay. The midfielder earned his 65th cap in a five-goal thriller against Colombia, coming from behind to lead on the hour mark before the visitors equalised in the 96th minute.

With the points looking like they were going to be shared, Manuel Ugarte half-volleyed home an effort in the 11th-minute of additional time to fire Marcelo Bielsa's side up the table.

That was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Brazil, with Lolo playing every minute in both fixtures.

Archie Gray & Dane Scarlett

Archie played every minute and Dane was on target for England Under-21s as they earned draws against Spain and the Netherlands.

Archie started at right-back in both fixtures, keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Spain in Cadiz before winning his eighth cap at this level in the 1-1 draw in Almere.

Dane made a 22-minute cameo against Spain before starting and completing 56 minutes against the Netherlands, opening the scoring just five minutes in with an eye catching diving header - his second goal in three games for the Young Lions.

Aaron Maguire

Aaron Maguire earned his first call up at Under-21 for the Republic of Ireland in this international break.

He didn't feature in the opening fixture against Sweden, where his side fell to a 2-0 defeat thanks to two second-half strikes from Hampus Skoglund and Richie Omorowa.

But Jim Crawford's side bounced back in the second game of the double header, edging a five-goal thriller, which saw Aaron start and complete sixty minutes in Marbella.

Goals from Jamie Mullins, Rocco Vata and Mark O’Mahony secured the points and ensured the side ended 2024 on a high.

Will Lankshear

Will was on target as the England Elite League Squad (Formerly Under-20s) strolled to a 4-0 win over Germany in their first fixture of the international window.

He came on with half an hour to play and took just 12 minutes to get on the scoresheet, as a curling cross found Sydie Peck free at the back post who headed the ball to Will to tap home into an unguarded net.

He also picked up his fourth cap at this level when he started and completed the 90 in a 1-1 draw with Poland in Pulawy as they remain top of the Elite League, although Germany have reduced their lead to just two points.

Leo Black, Callum Olusesi & Malachi Hardy

Leo Black appeared in all three fixtures as England Under-19s closed 2024 with two wins and a draw.

Firstly racking up 90 minutes before being substituted in added time in a 1-0 win over Lithuania in their opening Under-19 Euro qualifier, he then came on as a 92nd-minute substitute during a 2-1 win over Bulgaria.

The trio of fixtures closed with 0-0 draw against Belgium in which Leo started and completed the duration of the game, a result which secured top spot for Will Antwi's side - they now await the draw for the next round of qualifying in December.

England's Under-18s rounded out their year with back-to-back defeats against Poland and Germany.

Callum Olusesi came on as a second-half substitute in the former before starting in the latter fixture, completing 97 minutes in total.

The Under-17s also bowed out with back-to-back defeats, both coming against Belgium.

Malachi came on with 27 minutes to go in the first game, which ended 1-1 after 90 minutes before the Young Lions were defeated 4-3 on penalties.

He then started and once again wore the armband in the second fixture, completing 67 minutes and coming off just before Belgium scored the winner with 20 minutes to play.