Broadhead, Burns and Williamson Could Add to Caps
Wednesday, 11th Oct 2023 09:48

Nathan Broadhead and Wes Burns will be hoping to add to their international caps when Wales take on Gibraltar in a friendly at Wrexham this evening (S4C and Viaplay 1, KO 7.45pm), while young keeper Woody Williamson is with Scotland’s U19s, who are in action in Spain.

Broadhead and Burns have both won five full caps with the former Everton man having scored one international goal, on his debut to claim a 1-1 draw away against Croatia having come on as a sub.

Speaking after Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Preston, Broadhead said he was looking forward to meeting up with the Wales squad for the games.

“Hopefully I can get some minutes on the pitch, stay fit and come back strong,” he said. “Hopefully I can get two goals in both games. That’s the aim.”

Burns, talking on Friday ahead of the Lilywhites match, says the Wales squad is close-knit, much like Town’s.

“The Wales group is quite tight and quite similar in many ways to the group we have here at Ipswich,” he said.

“Everyone gets along with each other and there are a lot of lads that are coming from bigger clubs and things like that, but you don’t get anyone whose ego gets in the way. It means I tend to fit in with everyone.”

Wales manager Rob Page has used Burns on the left rather than his more familar right but the Cardiff-born wideman has no issue with that.

“It’s not too dissimilar to be honest, just flipped the other way,” he reflected. “Defensively, you are looking over the other shoulder to the one you are most used to looking over.

“It’s not that much different, although you’re obviously on the opposite side of the pitch, but I don’t find it difficult.”

Wales are in more significant action on Sunday when they take on Croatia in a Euro 2024 qualifier at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Williamson, 17, will be looking to win his third U19s cap when the young Scots take on the Republic of Ireland at the Pinatar Arena in Murcia. They also face Portugal at the same venue on Sunday.

In total, Town have nine players away on international duty in this break. In addition to Burns, Broadhead and Williamson, Massimo Luongo and Cameron Burgess are with Australia, Elkan Baggott with Indonesia, Janoi Donacien with Saint Lucia, Cieran Slicker with Scotland's U21s and Dane Scarlett with the England Men's Elite League Squad, while young keeper Henry Gray is training with the New Zealand squad but is not a full member of the party.

Photo: Sports Press Photo

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Linkboy13 added 10:09 - Oct 11 Have mixed feelings about players being called up for international football. On one hand playing against technically good players improves their game. But i don't really want to see them get injured. Burns especially who is one of McKenna's first names on the team sheet has played a lot of football and seems to frequently be carrying a injury.
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