Sunderland international round-up: Granit Xhaka shines, £30m star must improve
Sunderland have a wealth of their Premier League stars on international duty across the globe.
Regis Le Bris’ African contingent at Sunderland are among those to have departed for the first international break.
Given how many players were on display, there was a reasonable injury concern that has perhaps not been there in previous seasons.
Although there are still some games to go, Mackem News analyses how the international cohort have been getting on.
Granit Xhaka delivers masterclass away from Sunderland
Le Bris named Granit Xhaka as his Sunderland captain, and it is already easy to see why he made that decision.
Xhaka is already outperforming two Newcastle United aces in a key attacking metric and is dictating play on Wearside.
The 32-year-old captained Switzerland as they dismantled Kosovo 4-0 in their World Cup qualifier on Friday.
As he often does on the international stage, he dominated the midfield and was heavily involved in build-up play.
- Xhaka had 127 touches against Kosovo
- He completed four key passes
- The midfielder delivered 103 accurate passes from 118
Xhaka has one more international clash ahead of him as he faces Slovenia before returning to the North East.
Read more: Sunderland FC26 ratings – Granit Xhaka history maker, Habib Diarra upgraded
Trai Hume captains Northern Ireland against Luxembourg and Germany
Trai Hume was named as Northern Ireland’s captain for their World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Germany.
While he is more akin to playing as a right-back for Sunderland, the 23-year-old played as part of a back three in both matches.
Against Luxembourg, Hume delivered a stellar performance and was dominant in a duel, while tidy in his passing play.
- The defender won seven of his eight ground duels
- He completed 57 of his 61 passes
- Hume made three tackles
After their 3-1 win, Northern Ireland showed promise against Germany, only to fall to a 3-1 defeat.
Despite the result, Sunderland’s Hume delivered a trademark performance for his country and was praised for his high-energy performance.
How did Habib Diarra and co get on?
Almost all of Sunderland’s African group played some part during the international break.
Diarra started for Senegal in their 2-0 victory over Sudan before being substituted off in the 59th minute.
While his performance was satisfactory, the Senegalese media said that the midfielder needs to improve his consistency.
Noah Sadiki started for DR Congo’s 4-1 demolition of South Sudan and performed admirably, while Arthur Masuaku did not feature.
- Senegal: Diarra
- DR Congo: Sadiki, Masuaku
- Mozambique: Reinildo
- Morocco: Chemsdine Talbi
- Ivory Coast: Simon Adingra
- Burkina Faso: Bertrand Traore
As for Reinildo, he played at centre-back for Mozambique, but was powerless in their 4-0 defeat to Uganda.
Talbi made his international debut for Morocco, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute in their 5-0 thrashing of Niger.
Adingra played a pivotal role for the Ivory Coast in their narrow 1-0 win over Burundi, providing Vakoun Issouf Bayo with an assist.
Although Burkina Faso thumped Djibouti 6-0, new Sunderland signing Traore did not feature.
Omar Alderete, Chris Rigg, and Eliezer Mayenda all feature
Alderete helped Paraguay to a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, which meant that they qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 16 years.
Mayenda started on the left for the Spain under-21s against Cyprus, but was substituted off in the 59th minute.
As for Rigg, he was also in the starting lineup as England under-19s played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Spain.
Le Bris’ number one Robin Roefs received his first international call-up, but did not feature for the Netherlands against Lithuania.
All in all, it has been a productive international break, and supporters will be hoping that there are no injuries in the remaining games.
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