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Sissoko, Wijnaldum & Mitrovic triumph as Rob Elliot suffers

8 years ago
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A night of very mixed fortunes for Newcastle United’s players on international duty, with Gini Wijnaldum helping Holland pull off a surprise win at Wembley.

Jamie Vardy put England ahead after a great team move, only for a penalty and then an outrageous shove on Jagielka to go unpunished, in the lead up to the winning goal.

Wijnaldum played the full 90 minutes but a bit like some of his Newcastle away performances, he managed to be all but anonymous throughout the match.

Maybe the most uplifting story of the night saw France play their first home game since the terrorist atrocities in Paris. The French going 3-2 up before Moussa Sissoko was introduced for Paul Pogba with 21 minutes left, Coman then adding another to give a final scoreline of 4-2 over Russia.

Earlier in the day Aleksandar Mitrovic had a few half chances and one glorious headed opportunity that he passed up, Serbia winning 1-0 in Estonia thanks to a Kolarov free-kick – Mitrovic subbed in the final seconds of the game.

The biggest (and baddest) news of the night though was reserved for United keeper Rob Elliot.

Ireland finished the game 2-2 with Slovakia but after only 16 minutes, in attempting to save the opening goal, Rob Elliot twisted his knee as he attempted to change direction and was seen immediately punching the ground in agony.

The Newcastle goalkeeper stretchered off and sent to hospital for a scan, with initial reports suggesting knee ligament damage.

Speaking to the media after the 2-2 draw, Manager Martin O’Neill was asked about Rob Elliot:

“Not great – he has got a serious injury, so it is a real disappointment and dampener on the evening.”

You have to take the reports and tone of Martin O’Neill’s comments as meaning at the very least, that Rob Elliot is out for the rest of this season – especially with less than seven weeks until that final match at home to Spurs.

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