Derby County are now preparing for next week’s crucial Championship clash with Preston North End.
John Eustace will have heaved a sigh of relief to see his Derby County battlers return from international duty unscathed and ready to resume the Rams’ rejuvenated survival bid.
Safety prospects seemed bleak until a week before the squad broke up, when having ripped off three successive wins Rams moved to within a point of escaping the relegation zone.
After masterminding victories over Blackburn, Coventry and Plymouth Eustace probably wouldn’t have wanted to see his squad broken up nor the momentum interrupted, not that there was any choice.
And so, those selected and fit enough to answer their national teams’ call dispersed around the globe, including newly anointed captain Ebou Adams who was with the Gambia set-up for two qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The dynamic midfielder started the 1-0 Group F defeat to Ivory Coast on Monday, having played the final 13 minutes of the 3-3 draw with Kenya on March 20.
Eustace will no doubt have been relieved to see Sondre Langas not over-exerted after being selected by Norway.
The defender was not involved in the 5-0 win over Moldova on March 23 and was an unused substitute in the 4-2 victory over Israel on March 25. While the defender will have wanted to have added to his two caps, given his injury situation it’s probably better for the Rams that he didn’t.
Further afield Nathaniel Mendez-Laing joined up with the Guatemala squad as they qualified for the CONCACAF Gold Cup group stages after beating Guyana over two legs. The winger came off the bench in the first leg and started the second – a 2-0 victory which produced a 4-3 aggregate win.
The call-up came with him having missed the last four matches and not started for Derby since February 14.
Meanwhile Harrison Armstrong added two more caps for England’s Under-18s as they played three friendlies in the international break. The Everton teenager started for Liam Bramley’s side in a 2-2 draw against France and 1-0 victory over Portugal but was on the bench for the first friendly against Czechia.
Eustace will have a few days to assess his troops, with Preston playing Aston Villa in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, the Rams don’t play again until Wednesday, April 2.
