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Internationals head back to training ready for final push

2021-04-01T09:20:38.977Z

Back Down To Business

Internationals head back to training ready for final push

2021-04-01T09:20:38.977Z

HENNESSEY NAMED IN WALES SQUAD - Image 1

The international Clarets will be back at Barnfield on Friday with their focus returned to club duty for the final couple of months of the season.

Sean Dyche’s men kick off their nine game run-in at Southampton on Sunday with their international contingent back in the fold and joining in the preparations following their World Cup commitments.

Goalkeeper Nick Pope enjoyed a 100 per cent record with England at the start of their qualifying campaign for the finals in Qatar in 2022.

Pope played all three games for England and was beaten only once as Poland scored at Wembley before going on to lose 2-1 to Gareth Southgate’s side in their final competitive game before this summer’s Euro 2020 tournament.

The equalising goal was the first Pope had conceded in his England career and denied the Burnley number-one a share of Gordon Banks’ record of seven successive clean sheets for the Three Lions.

Pope’s goalkeeping colleague Bailey Peacock-Farrell enjoyed a big night at Windsor Park as he helped secure a first point in qualifying for Northern Ireland.

A 0-0 draw with Bulgaria was not the result the Northern Irish wanted in their quest to reach a first World Cup Finals since 1986 and earn a first win under Ian Baraclough.

But they would have suffered back-to-back qualifying defeats following a 2-0 loss in Italy but for Peacock-Farrell’s outstanding injury-time save to deny Bulgaria a winner.

“It’s nice to make a save like that and do something like that,” said the Clarets’ keeper, who had come under scrutiny following the loss in Italy.

“It’s been up-and-down. That’s just football. Sometimes you make a mistake but in this game I’d had 90 minutes previously so I was a bit more match-sharp and I felt a lot better.

“It looks like we will have to do it the hard way (qualification) but it’s just the start.”

Johann Berg Gudmundsson helped Iceland secure their first points in Group J thanks to a 4-1 victory in Liechtenstein on Wednesday night.

The Clarets’ winger played in two of Iceland’s three games during the ‘break’ to take his number of international caps to 79.

Matej Vydra – whose winning goal for the Clarets at Southampton last season earned him the Premier League’s goal-of-the-month prize – came off the bench in all three of the Czech Republic’s games.

A loss at Wales meant a win, a draw and a defeat for the Czechs in Group E.

The Republic of Ireland suffered a difficult start with successive defeats to launch their qualifying campaign in Group A before a 1-1 draw in a friendly against 2022 hosts Qatar left manager Stephen Kenny still without a win.

Clarets’ winger Robbie Brady came off during the first half of the game against Qatar.

Burnley boss Dyche will give an up-date on all his returning players when he previews the trip to Southampton in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, which can be watched live by Clarets+ subscribers.

And finally, it was also a disappointing return to international duty for Dwight McNeil.

The Clarets’ winger started two of England’s games in the U21 European Championships.

McNeil was one of the stand-out performers in a 2-1 win over Croatia in England’s final group game in Slovenia.

The 21-year-old created the winning goal for Curtis Jones and also hit the woodwork from a free-kick.

But Croatia’s late goal meant Aidy Boothroyd’s side hadn’t done enough to reach the summer’s knock-out stages as England’s poor record at this level continued.