Two of West Ham United’s senior players and one up-and-coming prospect were in action for their respective nations on Thursday.
**Konstantinos Mavropanos** started and played the full game for Greece, but ended the evening disappointed as Scotland scored a controversial 1-0 win in their UEFA Nations League A/B Play-Off first leg in Piraeus.
The West Ham defender could only watch in horror as his teammate Lazaros Rota was penalised for a foul on Scott McTominay, despite himself appearing to be fouled by the Napoli midfielder, and Scotland were awarded a first half penalty. Too add further to the Greeks’ frustration, McTominay himself converted from the spot.
Mavropanos and his compatriots will hope to turn things around and retain their League A place when the second leg takes place in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon.
**Evan Ferguson** was introduced as 76th-minute substitute for Republic of Ireland in their 2-1 UEFA Nations League B/C Play-Off first leg victory in Bulgaria.
All the goals had been scored before Ferguson replaced Troy Parrott in Plovdiv, where former Hammer Josh Cullen was named in the Irish starting XI and assisted Matt Doherty’s winning goal three minutes before half-time.
Ferguson, who now has 19 senior caps, will hope for more playing time when Ireland welcome Bulgaria to Dublin for the second leg on Sunday evening.
Goalkeeper **Krisztián Hegyi**, who is currently on loan in his home country with Debrecen, was not involved in Hungary’s UEFA Nations League A/B Play-Off first leg in Turkey, which ended 3-1 in the hosts’ favour.
Defeat in Istanbul means Hungary need to turn around that two-goal deficit when they host the second leg in Budapest on Sunday.
**Patrick Kelly**, who is spending the season on loan with Doncaster Rovers in EFL League Two, started for Northern Ireland U21s in a 1-1 draw with Moldova U21s in Turkey’s Antalya Province.
The game at Cornelia Sport Centre in Belek was the Northern Irish’s first of three in a four-team tournament that also features Ukraine U20s and Uzbekistan U21s.
Moldova took the lead in the first half before Rio Oudnie-Morgan of Ipswich Town levelled midway through the second.
The games in Turkey are preparation matches for 2025-27 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying, where Tommy Wright’s team will be facing Germany, Georgia, Greece, Latvia and Malta in Group F, starting in September.