Rather unfortunately, we’ve already reached the first international break of the season. Qualifiers and friendlies have nothing on club fixtures and this period is rather boring, but apparently necessary; however it may have come at a good time for United. Our players now have a little longer to improve their fitness before we launch ourselves straight into a game against Liverpool upon the return of the Premier League.
To make sure you’re in the know about all of our United lads on international duty, we’ve got this comprehensive guide – you won’t miss anything important!
Here’s a rundown of all of our players who made their international squads this time around, who they’ll face and when they’ll face them (all times BST) – all games are Euro 2016 qualifiers unless otherwise stated.
England/Under-21
United players: Rooney (c), Smalling, Shaw, Carrick, Wilson (u21)
Games: vs San Marino (a) – 5th September, 17:00
vs Switzerland (h) – 8th September, 19:45
Under-21s vs USA under-23s (h) – 3rd September, 19:45
Spain
United players: de Gea, Mata (oh look, another manager who refuses to use Ander Herrera!)
Games: vs Slovakia (h) – 5th September, 19:45
vs Macedonia (a) – 8th September, 19:45
Argentina
United players: Romero, Rojo
Games: vs Bolivia (h) – 5th September, 01:30 (friendly)
Netherlands
United players: Blind, Memphis
Games: vs Iceland (h) – 3rd September, 19:45
vs Turkey (a) – 6th September, 17:00
France
United players: Schneiderlin, Martial
Games: vs Portugal (a) – 4th September, 19:45
vs Serbia (h) – 7th September, 19:45
Germany
United players: Schweinsteiger (c)
Games: vs Poland (h) – 4th September, 19:45
vs Scotland (a) – 7th September, 19:45
Belgium
United players: Fellaini, Januzaj
Games: vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (h) – 3rd September, 19:45
vs Cyprus (a) – 6th September, 19:45
Northern Ireland
United players: McNair
Games: vs Faroe Islands (a) – 4th September, 19:45
vs Hungary (h) – 7th September, 19:45
Can’t decide which games to watch? Here are some points that may help you make your mind up:
Wayne Rooney needs two goals vs San Marino to make him England’s all-time top goalscorer; he’s currently one goal behind Sir Bobby Charlton.
Spain are three points behind Slovakia in their group, so will be in search of a win, with Ukraine currently on three points behind Del Bosque’s men.
Danny Blind is the current Netherlands manager and is Daley Blind‘s father; they play differently under Blind to Louis van Gaal at the World Cup so it will be interesting to see if the younger Blind is used at centre-back by his dad, too.
Anthony Martial has never played for France’s senior side before so is set to make his debut.
Bastian Schweinsteiger is Germany’s captain now, following the international retirement of Phillip Lahm last year.
Want to cram as much in as possible, to see our boys in action? Here’s the best way to do it:
3rd: Blind and Memphis both have a good shot at a starting place for the Netherlands whereas Januzaj and Fellaini (more likely the former) could be substitutes – so watch the first half of Die Oranje and the second half of the (Belgian) Red Devils
4th: A similar explanation to the previous day; Bastian will start for Germany as he is their captain, but if Martial gets involved for his France debut, it will likely be off the bench. Schneiderlin is hit-and-miss as to whether Deschamps plays him from the start but should feature either way.
5th: No overlap in the games means you can get all 270 minutes of football in – if you want to wake/stay up for the Argentina game!
6th: No overlap again, happy days!
7th: Again watching the second half of the French game as Martial could get involved late on, which is more likely than him starting the game. McNair may not play for Northern Ireland but it should be a decent game anyway!
8th: Who knows if Dave and Juan will get a look-in for Spain? Watch the first half of their game because England usually perform better in the second half of games. If Rooney doesn’t score two against San Marino, the record could come against the Swiss!
Of course, if you have the facility, you could have more than one game on at a time – and we’ll have round-up pieces here on Read Man Utd if you miss any of the games!
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