Across Friday and Saturday night, several Aston Villa players were at the heart of the action as nations ramped up their preparations for this summer’s World Cup.
Heading into the final week of the international break, Unai Emery and every Villa supporter will be hoping their stars can return without a scratch. Their push for Champions League football may go down to the wire, with every player needing to play their part in securing Europe’s elite competition.
Onana bosses the States and Martínez features
The headline performance from Saturday came from Amadou Onana. Representing Belgium in a high-profile friendly against the United States in Atlanta, the powerhouse midfielder continued his good form from the win over West Ham last Sunday.
Onana was dominant in the middle of the park, capped off by a low-driven shot into the bottom corner to score Belgium’s second goal in a hammering 5-2 victory.
Youri Tielemans also made a cameo, coming on for his Villa teammate in the 70th minute to help see out Belgium’s win. Despite making a mistake for the USA’s second goal, crucially, the 28-year-old got through the final 20 minutes unscathed, building up his fitness.
Every Villa supporter will be hoping he stays injury-free for what is a vital final stretch of Premier League games ahead.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Emiliano Martínez continued his role as Argentina’s undisputed number one.
The two-time Yashin Trophy winner was his usual commanding self in a 2-1 win over Mauritania. Whilst he didn’t continue his fantastic clean sheet record for the reigning world champions, the 33-year-old’s distribution and shot-stopping were vital as his team wasn’t at their best.
Tough night for Scotland and Bogarde plays the full 90
It was a difficult evening for Villa captain John McGinn. Scotland were beaten 1-0 by Japan in what was a disappointing start to their warm-up for their first World Cup campaign since 1998. The bustling midfielder put in an unusually uncharacteristic performance, winning only one out of his seven ground duels. He was then withdrawn at the hour mark, as the Scots failed to make any inroads.
Lamare Bogarde played the full 90 minutes for the Netherlands U-21s in a 3-2 defeat to Norway. It was his second cap for the youth side, playing at right-back.
Rogers and Konsa join up with the England camp
Although England faced Uruguay on Friday night, Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa were not involved in the matchday squad.
This was part of Thomas Tuchel’s plan to allow players who recently played in European competitions to have some rest in what is an intense fixture calendar.
The Villa duo joined up on Saturday with the rest of the squad and will likely feature in England’s next match against Japan on Tuesday evening. They are firmly in Tuchel’s plans for the World Cup as they strive to make history.
There is one more round of international matches to go before Emery can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief when his players return. Full focus will be on maintaining Villa’s momentum into the final seven league games, as well as a strong finish in their Europa League campaign.
