Reading FC International Round Up: November 2016

Ali Al-Habsi- The Royals' most in form player was rested for Oman's friendly against Japan, in which they were thrashed 4-0. Al-Habsi then played 90 minutes in a convincing 3-0 win away to Myanmar and they will look to build on that result in the next set of international fixtures.

Chris Gunter- It will not surprise you when I say that Gunter played the full 90 minutes for Wales in their World Cup qualifier at home to Serbia. The Welsh took the lead after 30 minutes when Hal Robson-Kanu's cross found Gareth Bale who made no mistake in finishing clinically past the Serbian goalkeeper. But they were made to rue missed opportunities as minutes after Bale struck the post, Serbia counter-attacked and a neat move resulted in Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic heading across Wayne Hennessey to earn Serbia an unlikely point. The draw leaves Wales four points behind early pace-setters Republic of Ireland. However, Gunter remained optimistic on their chances of qualifying from the group.

Paul McShane- The Reading skipper was again part of the Republic of Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifiers but didn't feature in their shock 1-0 win over Austria. The result means that Ireland remain unbeaten in the group so far and are sitting top of the group by 2 points. Their next game in the group is at home to Wales, in which will be a pivotal fixture, even at this early stage of qualifying.

Sandro Wieser- The central midfielder who hasn't featured in a Reading shirt for the senior team yet was part of the Liechtenstein team that were beaten convincingly by Italy 4-0 in their World Cup qualifier. Goals from Ciro Immobile, Antonio Candreva and a brace from Andrea Belotti was enough to move Italy joint top with Spain. Wieser played the full 90 minutes again but Liechtenstein remain without a win in the group and will be looking to get off the mark against Macedonia in March.

John Swift- Now I'm sure everyone reading this round up knows about what happened to one of Reading's most in form players in his game against Italy at St Mary's. Swift picked up an ankle injury after half an hour in England Under 21's dramatic 3-2 win over Italy in Southampton and couldn't carry on any longer. Although at first it looked like the midfielder would be out for a couple of weeks, it was confirmed by Jaap Stam that Swift was set for a longer spell on the sidelines. Swift also expressed his frustration at the injury on Twitter the evening of the win.

Yakou Meite- The young Ivorian was part of the Ivory Coast Under 23 squad for their friendly against France Under 21's. Meite didn't feature at all but it will have been an important week in improving his fitness levels in training as he steps up his recovery from injury after featuring for Reading briefly in the 3-0 win over Wigan last week.

Luke Southwood- The young England shot stopper will be disappointed not to feature in the final two games of the Continental Cup in South Korea. England Under 20's were defeated 2-1 by the hosts but did win 4-1 in the final group game in what will prove a good learning curve for Southwood.

That concludes this round up! My next round up will be in March when the next round of World Cup Qualifiers take place.