- Kellen Fisher makes Carrow Road appearance as England Under-21s dominate.
- Jose Cordoba nets for Panama while Kenny McLean suffers defeat in Liverpool.
- Injury concern for McConville as he returns to Colney for assessment.
International breaks are a notoriously twitchy time for club managers. Doubly so when your name is Philippe Clement and your squad is already carrying 14 injuries.
Suffice to say, he’ll be relieved when he gets his players back and will be hoping there will be no new attendess in the physio room.
Last night was a busy one for Canary players. Here’s how they all fared:
Carrow Road homecoming
The highlight of the evening for many City fans was the England Under-21 clash with Moldova that was hosted at Carrow Road.
Our own Kellen Fisher was there, earning his second cap for the Young Lions, albeit it was a late cameo appearance, when he came on as a 79th-minute substitute for Tottenham’s Archie Gray.
Fisher was understandably lauded by the crowd of 11,842 and was watched by head coach Philippe Clement and one of his assistants, Ryan Garry.
England dominated the game, comfortably winning 4-1, with Fisher looking calm and composed during his late cameo. The win solidified the Under-21s position at the top of their UEFA EURO 2027 qualifying group.
International goals and mixed results
Further from home, Jose Cordoba enjoyed one of his best nights in the red of Panama. City’s left-sided centre-back scored his first international goal in his team’s 2-1 friendly win over South Africa, pouncing on a rebound in the 58th minute to score from close range. He’ll return to Colney in a buoyant mood.
It was a tougher night for City captain Kenny McLean, who played the final 20 minutes of Scotland’s 1-0 friendly defeat by the Ivory Coast – a game played at Everton’s Hill Dickinson stadium. He replaced former City loanee Billy Gilmour but was unable to spark a late Scottish comeback against a well-organised Ivorian defence.
Injury stress for Clement
Perhaps of greater concern for Clement is the fact that Ruairi McConville didn’t feature in last night’s Wales/Northern Ireland clash in Cardiff. Instead, he was on his way back to Colney for treatment on his troublesome knee that kept him out of action for two games recently.
Some reports suggest it is a new knock picked up during Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy last week, but Clement had already spoken to Michael O’Neill about the knee problem.
City fans will be hoping it’s a precautionary measure with their Good Friday game against Portsmouth just two days away.
Youth watch…
Elliot Myles reached a significant milestone last night by earning his first Under-21 cap for Wales. Although the young Dragons suffered a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Denmark, his introduction as a second-half substitute marked a major step forward for the talented winger.
As most of those mentioned begin their return journeys to Norfolk, Clement will still be sweating over the fitness of his ‘Toronto gang’. Anis Ben Slimane and Ali Ahmed are both due to play later as Tunisia meet Canada in another World Cup warm-up game.
Fingers crossed, both arrive home with a clean bill of health.
