Sunderland international round-up: World Cup heartbreak for duo as Melker Ellborg moves closer | OneFootball

Northern Ireland’s World Cup hopes ended on Thursday night as Italy won 2-0 in their qualifying play-off semi-final, with Trai Hume captaining and Dan Ballard sidelined by injury.

According to Sunderland Echo, the Green and White Army reached the play-offs via the UEFA Nations League after topping League C Group 3 with 11 points ahead of Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg. That earned a one-off in Bergamo against an Italy side who had finished second to Norway following 3-0 and 4-1 defeats.

Hume, 24, played the full match on the right of a back three and earned a team-high 7.3 FotMob rating. He made a goal-line clearance among his four clearances, added tackles and interceptions, and posted 82% pass completion.

Second-half goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean saw Italy through, leaving Hume and the injured Ballard to miss out on a FIFA World Cup in North America this summer.

There was better news for Melker Ellborg with Sweden. Signed from Malmo in January to back up Robin Roefs, the 22-year-old has already featured four times for Sunderland, including wins over Leeds United and Newcastle United, with defeats to Brighton and Port Vale in the FA Cup.

Ellborg was an unused substitute as Sweden beat Ukraine 3-1 in a World Cup qualifier, Viktor Gyokeres making it 3-0 by the 73rd minute before a late consolation.

Sweden now face Poland in Solna on Tuesday, the winner qualifying for the World Cup.

Elsewhere, Noah Sadiki was in the DR Congo squad that beat Bermuda in a friendly in Mexico on Wednesday. Chris Rigg played the final 20 minutes as England lost 2-0 to Serbia in an U19 European Championship qualifier, and Milan Aleksic started as Serbia’s U21s drew 2-2 with Kyrgyzstan U23s on Thursday.

Source: Sunderland Echo