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Aston Villa on international break: 7 senior national call-ups

By Josh Tonti

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 15: Mile Jedinak and Trent Sainsbury of Australia celebrate victory during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Leg 2 match between the Australian Socceroos and Honduras at ANZ Stadium on November 15, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 15: Mile Jedinak and Trent Sainsbury of Australia celebrate victory during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Leg 2 match between the Australian Socceroos and Honduras at ANZ Stadium on November 15, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) /
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Aston Villa’s Birkir Bjarnason, Ahmed Elmohamady and Mile Jedinak join their respective national teams in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Another FIFA international window, another round of national team call-ups. In case you missed it, we covered the five Aston Villa youngsters called into England u20 and u21 sides.

Conor Hourihane and Scott Hogan were both called into Republic of Ireland duty. For Hourihane, the midfielder is looking to improve upon his three previous caps that began in 2017. Hogan, on the other hand, is looking for a debut with the Emerald Isle, and is looking like a good bet to play in some capacity. The only other strikers in Martin O’Neill’s squad are Shane Long and Preston’s Sean Maguire. This is Hogan’s second camp. Ireland play a single match this break, against Turkey in Antalya. The match takes place Friday, March 23rd.

James Chester recently flew to Nanning, China as Wales take part in the second annual China Cup. The European Championship semi-finalists play China tomorrow afternoon for a chance to make the finals. Depending on result, Wales will play the winner/loser of Uruguay/Czech Republic. Neil Taylor, originally called into Ryan Giggs’s squad, had to withdraw with a groin injury that forced him to miss Aston Villa’s loss to Bolton Wanderers.

For once in what feels like a milennia, Mile Jedinak did not have to jet off to Australia during an international window. The Socceroos captain instead flew to Norway, where Australia play in Oslo this Friday evening. Four days later, Bert van Marwijk’s team heads to Craven Cottage with a friendly against Colombia.

Ahmed Elmohamady is with Egypt once more as the Pharaohs ramp-up World Cup preparation. Elmo teams with Mohamed Salah in Zürich this break for a pair of friendlies. Egypt play Portugal this Friday evening and Greece on Tuesday evening.

Birkir Bjarnason jetted off to the United States for a pair of friendlies. Iceland play Mexico in San Francisco, California on Friday evening before a date with Peru in New Jersey four days later. All three sides previously qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Others of note include: Aaron Tshibola accepting a call-up to the Democratic Republic of the Congo senior team. Elsewhere, Martija Sarkic joins Montenegro u21s, while Jake Doyle-Hayes and James Finnerty join Republic of Ireland u21s and u19s, respectively.

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