International round-up: Colley qualifies for AFCON, Ekdal injured

Find out how our players fared with their national teams in the first round of international fixtures.

Mikkel Damsgaard was an unused substitute as Denmark kicked off their 2022 World Cup qualifying Group F campaign with a 2-0 win over Israel (Braithwaite 13, Wind 67) .

There was joy for Omar Colley and Gambia as they qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in history after beating Angola 1-0 (Ceesay 62), with the Samp defender playing the full 90 minutes.

Maya Yoshida also played 90 minutes as he captained Japan to a 3-0 friendly victory over South Korea (Yamane 16, Kamada 27, Endo 83).

Poland’s World Cup qualifying Group I opener against Hungary turned out to be quite a rollercoaster. Bartosz Bereszynski‘s team found themselves 2-0 down in Budapest before two goals in a minute brought them level. The hosts then restored their lead late on but Poland snatched a late equaliser as it ended 3-3 (Sallai 6, Szalai 53, Piatek 60, Jozwiak 61, Orban 78, Lewandowski 83). Bereszynski played the entire game..

Meanwhile Sweden beat Georgia 1-0 (Claesson 35) in their opening World Cup qualifier in Group B. Albin Ekdal came on as a substitute in the 68th minute but was forced to leave the pitch just five minutes later after picking up a thigh injury. The midfielder’s condition will be assessed over the coming hours.