Chelsea News - Mix of Tournament Qualifiers and Friendlies
In a mix of tournament qualifiers and friendlies, Chelsea will be present on all three continents. Closest to home, the halfway point in the Euro 2024 qualifying has been achieved, with nations battling for a place at the competition, which will be hosted by Germany next summer. For the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, qualifying has already begun in South America. The round-robin format's third and fourth matchdays will be played during the October international break. The current round of qualifying is over for the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations, which will begin in January in the Ivory Coast. Attention shifts to warm-up friendlies on that continent in addition to the group-stage draw taking place the following week.
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Broja makes his first appearance for the national team since November of last year, returning after a protracted absence due to a knee injury. Colwill and Gallagher, two Chelsea players, will be part of the Three Lions squad. Both of their games, which will take place at Wembley, are against Australia on Friday, October 13, and Italy on Tuesday, October 17, respectively. Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi, two members of the Blues, were late additions to the France team; Gusto was playing in his nation's senior squad for the first time. They know that if they win on Friday, October 13 against the Netherlands, they would qualify for Euro 2024, and that if Greece loses to the Republic of Ireland on the same day, a draw will suffice.
For two critical qualifying matches, Ian Maarten moves up from the Under-21s to the senior Dutch team. The first of Serbia's two consecutive qualifying matches is a huge away trip to Hungary on Saturday, October 14. The two teams enter that game tied for first place in Group G in terms of points. On Tuesday, October 17, they play host to Montenegro, who is in third place but is only two points behind them. Djordje Petrovic was subsequently invited to participate. Three days later, Mudryk and company depart for Malta, which is in last place and still without a point.
The defending champions Argentina will be looking to maintain their perfect record with two more games in October. Argentina, led by Enzo Fernandez, is one of two teams to win both of their opening matches in the South American section of the 2026 World Cup qualifying without conceding a goal. On Thursday, October 12, they play host to Paraguay before leaving for Peru on Tuesday, October 17. Ecuador, which started its qualifying campaign with a tight loss to Argentina and Moises Caicedo, hopes to build on its previous performance, which included a victory over Uruguay, when it travels to Bolivia on Thursday, October 12, and hosts Colombia on Tuesday, October 17.
Senegal will play Cameroon in a friendly on Monday, October 16 in the French city of Lens as part of their preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations, where they have already clinched their spot with Nicolas Jackson. England Under-21s Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer led the younger England team to a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg to start their qualifying campaign last month, and they will look to build on that performance against more difficult competition when they host Serbia in Nottingham on October 12 and then take on Ukraine in Slovakia on October 16. The Finland team, led by Lucas Bergstrom, will be looking to avenge their opening home loss to Switzerland when they take against Albania on Friday, October 13.
Lesley Ugochukwu of France's Under-21 team started their campaign with a decisive 4-0 victory over Slovenia on the road, and they'll be hoping for more of the same as they travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, October 13, before hosting Cyprus on Tuesday, October 17.
Chelsea players on International duty and friendlies
Amanda Broja
Levi Colwill
Conor Gallagher
Malo Gusto
Axel Disasi
Ian Maarten
Djordje Petrovic
Mykhailo Mudryk
Enzo Fernandez
Moises Caicedo
Nicolas Jackson
Noni Maduake
Cole Palmer
Lucas Bergstrom