International Roundup: Debuts For Harriott, Meite And McNulty

A total of nine Reading players - some in the first team, others from the academy - were involved for their countries over the last two weeks. We’ve rounded up how they all got on below.

Callum Harriott

Congratulations to the former Charlton Athletic man, who had a very successful international break with Guyana. Harriott made his full debut for the South American nation, getting 90 minutes in the process as his country beat Belize 2-1.

The results means Guyana qualify for the Gold Cup for the first time in their history. The 16-team tournament is set to run from mid-June to early July, and will be hosted in Costa Rica the United States and a yet-unnamed Caribbean country.

Yakou Meite

The youngster followed up Harriott’s achievement by doing the same thing - getting his first senior appearance for the Ivory Coast. He did that with a 73-minute appearance in a friendly against Liberia, having been left on the bench for a 3-0 victory over Rwanda.

That win secured the Ivory Coast a spot in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, which Egypt will host between late June and mid-July. So Reading will need to ensure Meite finds other time to rest up ahead of the 2019/20 league season, as he won’t have had the same time off as his teammates.

Marc McNulty

Senior debuts are a bit of a trend here, aren’t they? McNulty, currently on loan at Hibs north of the border, made his first appearances for Scotland. He came off the bench in both fixtures - a 3-0 embarrassment in Kazakhstan and a (less embarrassing but still not great) 2-0 win over San Marino.

By his own admission though, he was booed by his own father in the second game. This piece from The National is well worth a read.

Side note: the Scottish squad contained a player called Liam Kelly - no relation.

Matt Miazga

The American played once in his country’s two international fixtures, getting 90 minutes under his belt in a 1-1 friendly draw with Chile. Days earlier, the USA had ground out a 1-0 triumph over Ecuador, albeit with Miazga on the bench.

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Danny Loader

The academy graduate played three times over the two weeks, appearing for England’s under-19s against the Czech Republic, Greece and Denmark. He scored in the first game, adding the Three Lions’ fourth goal in a 4-1 win, but failed to find the net off the bench against Greece or in his start against Denmark.

He may not have hit form for Reading yet, but the fact that Loader is starting pretty regularly amid a talented crop of English talent is very encouraging. Translating that promise into a real return will take Jose Gomes time.

Anssi Jaakkola

Finland had two games, and Anssi Jaakkola was an unused sub in both of them. His country were beaten 2-0 by Italy in the first match, but later triumphed by the same scoreline over Armenia.

Chris Gunter

Wales also had two games, but Chris Gunter managed an appearance in the first - a 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago (playing two countries at the same time must have been tricky for Gunter). He was however an unused sub as Wales beat Slovakia 1-0.

Although he’s been an ever-present at international level for years now, Gunter will inevitably be phased out of the set-up as a new crop of talent comes through. It’ll be interesting to see if the same is true for him at club level too...

Ben House and Jordan Holsgrove

Rounding out our international roundup are young Scottish duo Ben House and Jordan Holsgrove, who feature at under-21 level. Both came off the bench against Mexico (a 0-0 draw), and started against Sweden (a 2-1 loss).

Side note: the Scottish under-21 squad had a player called Patrick Reading, which is nice. He plays for Middlesbrough.