International Report September 2018: Loader At The Double For Young Lions

A total of eight Reading player were on duty for their countries over the last two weeks - see how they got on below.

Danny Loader

I don’t even need to go into detail as to how highly rated this youngster is. Loader is part of the England under-19s set-up, a team which features Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Manchester United’s Angel Gomes, but it was the Reading youngster who stole the show with a brace and an assist as England beat Holland 4-1. The question is this:

How long will it be before we see him in the Reading first team?

Chris Gunter

The Welsh international ended a phenomenal run of consecutive appearances in the Welsh set-up as he was an unused substitute in their 4-1 win over the Republic of Ireland. However, Gunter did feature in their next match against Denmark in the Nations League, but was unable to prevent his side from falling to a 2-0 defeat as Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen scored a brace for Denmark. At the half way stage, Wales sit in second, level on points with Denmark who have a game in hand to play against Ireland.

David Meyler

The Irish international got 36 minutes of action under his belt as he featured in their 1-1 draw away to Poland in an international friendly in Wroclaw. Meyler was also an unused substitute in their 4-1 defeat to Wales, in which his Royals team mate Chris Gunter was also an unused substitute.

Meyler took to social media after the draw to Poland and was pleased with his side’s display.

Leandro Bacuna

One trait that you don’t associate with Leandro Bacuna is his goal-scoring ability, but he popped up with a brace against Grenada in an international friendly during the week as his Curacao team ran out 10-0 winners.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson

Reading’s top goalscorer wasn’t involved against Switzerland as they were thrashed 6-0. However, the Icelandic international was involved but unable to get on the scoresheet as they were comfortably beaten by World Cup semi-finalists Belgium who won 3-0, courtesy of goals from Eden Hazard and a brace from Romelu Lukaku. Bodvarsson was substituted after 71 minutes.

Tom McIntyre

The Reading youngster was a late substitute for the Scotland under-21s side as they stunned Holland to win 2-1 thanks to a late penalty. This was McIntyre’s international debut and he’ll hope to be involved when the squad meet up again on the international break.

Saeid Ezatolahi

Reading’s new central midfielder may not have featured yet for Paul Clement’s side, but he did play 71 minutes for Iran as they beat Uzbekistan in a friendly and Ezatolahi assisted the winning goal, crossing low for Mehdi Torabi to tap home to give Iran the win. Ezatolahi will be hoping to be part of the Iran squad in January, as they get their Asian Cup campaign underway against Yemen.

Axel Andresson

The Icelandic under-21 defender featured in Iceland’s narrow 3-2 defeat to Slovakia. Iceland have already been confirmed as not progressing to to Euro 2019, as Spain have all but won the qualifying group.