Sunderland international round-up: World Cup heartbreak for duo, Ellborg one step closer | OneFootball

Northern Ireland's 2-0 defeat to Italy in Bergamo brought World Cup play-off heartbreak for Sunderland pair Trai Hume and Dan Ballard on Thursday night.

They reached the play-offs via the Nations League. According to Sunderland Echo, it was a bruising start to an otherwise mixed international window for the club.

Hume captained Michael O'Neill's side and played the full match on the right of a back three, earning a team-high 7.3 from FotMob. He made a goal-line clearance among a string of interventions and completed 82% of his passes.

Second-half goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean settled it for Italy. Ballard missed out through injury, and the pair will not be at this summer's World Cup in North America.

For Melker Ellborg, it was a step forward with Sweden. Signed from Malmo in January to back up Robin Roefs, the 22-year-old has already made four Sunderland appearances because of Roefs' injury.

Ellborg, an unused substitute, watched Sweden beat Ukraine 3-1. Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres put them 3-0 up by the 73rd minute, before Matviy Ponomarenko's late consolation.

Sweden face Poland in Solna on Tuesday, the winner qualifying for the World Cup. Elsewhere, Noah Sadiki featured as DR Congo beat Bermuda in Mexico, Chris Rigg played the last 20 minutes in England's 2-0 U19 loss to Serbia, and Milan Aleksic started as Serbia U21s drew 2-2 with Kyrgyzstan U23s.

Source: Sunderland Echo