We've taken a look at how Sunderland's stars have been getting on in the international break so far.
The Green and White Army had booked their place in the play-off path thanks to their Uefa Nations League performance, finishing top of League C Group 3 with 11 points, ahead of Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg. That set up a one-off clash in Bergamo with an Italy side that faltered during qualifying, finishing second to Norway in their group after damaging 3-0 and 4-1 defeats to Erling Haaland and Co.
Heartbreak for Hume and Ballard
Trai Hume captained Northern Ireland on Thursday night and played the full 90 minutes on the right of a back three for Michael O’Neill. The 24-year-old received a team-high 7.3 rating from FotMob, fuelled by some impressive stats such as two tackles, four clearances - one off the line - two interceptions, one block and four recoveries. Hume also won four of his five ground duels and two of his three aerial duels, while contributing on the ball with a 2/3 dribble success rate, two crosses and 82% pass completion.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to help Northern Ireland, who fell to second-half goals from Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali, and Fiorentina striker Moise Kean. While he was unable to play on the night due to injury, Dan Ballard also shared in Sunderland teammate Hume’s heartbreak, with the Black Cats duo missing out on the chance to play at the FIFA World Cup in North America this summer as a result.
Ellborg one step closer to World Cup
Though it was tears for Hume and Ballard, goalkeeper Melker Ellborg had a much more enjoyable evening with Sweden. Ellborg was signed from Malmo at the end of the January transfer window to back up Robin Roefs, but has already unexpectedly played four times for Sunderland due to an injury for the latter.
The 22-year-old has been a part of wins over Leeds United - where he made four saves to keep a clean sheet - and arch-rivals Newcastle United, with defeats to Brighton and Port Vale in the FA Cup between. Ellborg was an unused substitute on Thursday, but was still able to celebrate as his Sweden teammates saw off Ukraine 3-1 in their World Cup qualifier. Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres fired the Scandinavians into a 3-0 lead by the 73rd minute, meaning Matviy Ponomarenko’s late strike was nothing more than a consolation.
Sweden will now take on Poland in Solna on Tuesday, with the winner of that match booking their place at the World Cup. Elsewhere, Noah Sadiki was part of the DR Congo squad that beat Bermuda in a friendly in Mexico on Wednesday, while Chris Rigg played the last 20 minutes from the bench as England lost 2-0 to Serbia in a U19 UEFA European Championship qualifier. Finally, Milan Aleksic was a starter as Serbia’s U21s drew 2-2 in a friendly against Kyrgyzstan U23s on Thursday.
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