Brighton players were heavily involved again through the second round of matches in the September international break. The undoubted highlight though was Jan Paul van Hecke making his Dutch debut.
Or to be more precise, the reaction to Van Hecke making his Dutch debut. Namely from Netherlands fan @Feyefed who posted on Twitter: “That Van Hecke has the head of a very wrong young officer from Schindler’s List.”
Van Hecke was introduced at half time of the Netherlands’ Nations League game against Germany. He impressed for reasons other than looking like a character in a historical movie, helping the Dutch keep a second half clean sheet as they came from behind to draw in Amsterdam.
Germany went into half time 2-1 ahead thanks to a goal and an assist from a certain Deniz Undav. Denzel Dumfries levelled for the Dutch five minutes after the break and 2-2 is how it finished.
Bart Verbruggen started for the Netherland and was heavily involved in their opening goal after less than two minutes.
A long pass from Verbruggen up to halfway found the chest of Brian Brobbery, whose layoff to Ryan Gravenberch gave the Liverpool midfielder the opportunity to thread a ball through the German defence.
Tijjani Reijnders subsequently raced through and beat Marc-André ter Stegen, who at 32-years-old has finally become Germany number one thanks to the retirement of Manuel Neuer.
Pascal Gross started in midfield for Die Mannschaft, meaning four players with Brighton connections were involved in one of the biggest international matchups there is in world football. Almost as mental as @Feyefed‘s tweet.
Die Van Hecke heeft heeft de kop van een hele foute jonge officier uit Schindler’s List. #NEDGER pic.twitter.com/0yv7a0wsKJ
— Feyefed (@Feyefed) September 10, 2024
Two players yet to appear for Brighton this season got valuable Nations League game time under their belts. Evan Ferguson played 27 minutes off the bench as the Republic of Ireland lost 2-0 against Greece. Jakub Moder was a 62nd minute introduction for Poland in their 1-0 defeat in Croatia.
Rounding off the Albion international contingent in Nations League action was Yasin Ayari. He played for 63 minutes as Sweden eased to a 3-0 home win over Estonia.
Paraguay gave their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup a major boost by beating Brazil 1-0. Julio Enciso completed 85 minutes whilst Brighton-bound Diego Gomez scored the only goal of the game with a stunning strike from outside the box.
Ecuador meanwhile are in an excellent position to make it to the tournament. Pervis Estupinan starred in their 1-0 win over the might of Peru.
In Africa, AFCON qualification remains ongoing. Simon Adingra played for 75 minutes as Ivory Coast won 2-0 away against Chad. Carlos Baleba was of the best players on the pitch in Cameroon’s 0-0 draw with Zimbabwe.
Tariq Lamptey managed to get through an entire 90 minutes unscathed for Ghana. The Black Stars though could only draw 1-1 with Niger. They sit third in their qualification group, meaning AFCON 2025 could be without one of the continent’s footballing powerhouses.
Yankubu Minteh set up an equaliser for The Gambia against Tunisia via a devastating run and cross finished by Ali Sowe.
Unfortunately, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane hit a 75th minute winner for the visitors to deny The Gambia what would have been a magnificent point.
Last but by no means least, Kaoru Mitoma played for 73 minutes as Japan won 5-0 in Bahrain. The Japanese Bullet Train set up the fourth goal with a square pass to Hidemasa Morita.
It has been a good September of World Cup qualifying for the Samurai Blue, who stuck seven goals past hapless China in their previous outing.
