Busy weekend of action for international Celts | OneFootball

With the final few games of the current international break scheduled this week, it has already been a busy time for the Celtic players out on international duty.

With nations vying for a place at next year’s World Cup tournament, qualifying is heading towards a crucial stage.

Tuesday evening is gearing up to be a huge one for the Scotland national team, with Kieran Tierney and Anthony Ralston part of the group looking to secure a place at the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

Following a closely-contested 3-2 defeat against Greece, which Ralston came off the bench to play his part in, it all comes down to the final group game.

On the other side of that group is another member of the Celtic squad, with Kasper Schmeichel and Denmark looking to put a stop to Scotland’s hopes. The Danes had the chance to seal their fate but dropped points at home against Belarus on Saturday evening.

With one match between both nations and a place at next summer’s tournament, all three Celtic players will be hoping to play their part at Hampden.

It was a successful international break for the Republic of Ireland, which included Liam Scales and Johnny Kenny within their squad.

Against all odds, they secured a play-off place with a win over Portugal and a dramatic last-gasp victory over Hungary on Sunday.

With assists in both matches, it was a memorable few days for Scales, who set up Troy Parrot’s dramatic 96th-minute winner in Budapest. And Johnny Kenny also made his senior international debut in that game as the Ireland squad kept their World Cup hopes alive.

Another player who helped keep his nation’s World Cup hopes alive was Michel-Ange Balikwisha, with the D.R. Congo, helping his nation book an inter-confederation play-off spot as the representative for Africa.

Following their 1-0 semi-final win over Cameroon, D.R. Congo faced Nigeria, with the match going to penalties.

Having been introduced to the match on 105 minutes, Balikwisha stepped up to take his country's fifth penalty, confidently dispatching the ball home as they overcame Nigeria.

Although it hasn’t been as successful a break from a team perspective for Sweden, Benjamin Nygren got off to a decent start under new boss Graham Potter.

The midfielder scored an equaliser just before half-time against Switzerland, before the game would ultimately end in a 4-1 defeat for the Swedes.

But they will be hoping to round off what has been a disappointing qualification campaign with a win when they face Slovenia on Tuesday evening.

With their fate already sealed, it was a disappointing end to the qualification campaign for Finland and Viljami Sinisalo, who suffered a 1-0 defeat to Malta.

Although it was a disappointing end, the goalkeeper started between the sticks and helped mark the international retirement of the Finnish all-time top scorer and former Celtic striker, Teemu Pukki. Finland will round off the break with a friendly against Andorra.

Having come back into the Celtic side and quickly picking up form, Auston Trusty has also been back involved with the US national team, ahead of their home World Cup next summer.

Trusty was amongst the substitutes during their 2-1 win over Paraguay on Saturdaym and will be hoping to play his part in the final friendly outing against Uruguay.

Also in friendly action and amongst the unused subs whilst away with Japan was Daizen Maeda, who watched on as they ran out 2-0 winners against Ghana.

With one more friendly to come for Japan, the Celtic forward will also be hoping to play his part to close the break against Bolivia on Tuesday morning.

Finally, although there has been much to be positive about for the Celts on international duty, Colby Donovan’s time with the Scotland Under-21 squad came to an early close due to injury.

During the 2-0 win over Gibraltar, the youngster was stretchered off at the beginning of the second-half.

Best of luck the Celtic players in action this week as they aim to round off the break with positive results on Tuesday.