Town saw 10 first team players head off on international duty during the September break. Here’s a round-up of how they got on.

The Blues’ trio of Republic of Ireland internationals all started in both Nations League defeats to England and Greece.

Chiedozie Ogbene and Sammie Szmodics both played 90 and 84 minutes in the two matches to take their tallies of caps to 22 and six respectively.

Meanwhile, defender Dara O’Shea played every minute to take his total number of international caps to 28.

Ogbene was also named Ireland’s Player of the Match against England on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Aro Muric was expelled from the Kosovo squad for reportedly breaking team rules - reportedly staying out too late at a night club - an accusation by the Kosovan FA which was later denied by the former Burnley man, claiming the ‘rumours circulating are not true’.

Muric had previously won his 39th cap in Kosovo’s 3-0 home defeat to Romania on Friday.

Axel Tuanzebe took his DR Congo caps to three after helping his country to two victories and two clean sheets in AFCON qualifiers against Guinea and Ethiopia, playing both at right-back.

After previously featuring in England’s youth setups, the Blues defender made his senior international debut for the Congolese in June.

Defender Cameron Burgess earned his 10th cap for Australia as the Socceroos drew 0-0 with Indonesia on Tuesday.

That result capped off an underwhelming window for the Australians, who previously were beaten at home to Bahrain when Burgess was an unused substitute.

Napoli loanee Jens Cajuste became the first player to ever earn caps for Sweden while with the Blues as he took his total number of international appearances to 25.

The midfielder featured in both of Sweden’s victories over Azerbaijan and Estonia from the bench, playing at right-back in the former in Baku.

Ali Al-Hamadi earned his 13th and 14th caps for Iraq as they beat Oman and drew with Kuwait in Asian qualifying for the World Cup.

The striker, whose minutes are being managed, returned to the national side for the first time since January but did not add to his three international goals.

Summer signing Liam Delap earned two more caps for England U21s to take his total to seven as the striker featured against both Northern Ireland and Austria.

Delap came off the bench against the Northern Irish while starting in Monday’s friendly victory against Austria at Kenilworth Road.

Teammate Omari Hutchinson pulled out of the Young Lions camp as a precautionary measure having initially been named in the squad. Town’s record signing has previously won full caps for Jamaica.

Cieran Slicker continued to be first choice for Scotland U21s as they played their Spanish and Maltese counterparts in European qualifiers during the past week.

The goalkeeper captained the side for the first time during this window and took his total caps at U21 level to 19.

Elsewhere, Blues U21s striker Ash Boatswain made his debut for Montserrat in their CONCACAF Nations League clash with El Salvador last Thursday.

The 19-year-old would then start for Lee Bowyer’s side for the first time in their defeat at St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Photo: Andy Sumner/Focus Images Ltd/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

DoctorPolski added 09:12 - Sep 11 Great article format Kallum.
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emergencylime added 13:01 - Sep 11 Agreed…good to have a consolidated report. I hope Ali coming off at HT was tactical and not precautionary.
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Gazelle added 14:00 - Sep 11 McK won’t have liked 10 players missing from our training sessions
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positivity added 14:39 - Sep 11 another thumbs-up for the format, like it!
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NITFC added 16:31 - Sep 11 I've read many comments indicating that our fans don't like players playing for their countries. I get the injury concerns but we should be proud to have so many of our players playing international football again. It's been a while .........
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armchaircritic59 added 17:51 - Sep 11 I think we all need to realise that the vast majority of players are proud to put on the shirts of their country, whether that's the likes of Spain or San Marino. Injuries will of course occur from time to time, it's just how it is. We should also be proud that we have players rated good enough to play for their countries. For many it's the pinnacle of their careers. I wish them all the very best of luck.

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samsonblue added 06:46 - Sep 12 Again, I always worry when international break comes around. Even more so this time with 10 players travelling around the world!! This must be the most player away from the squad that we have ever had to deal with. Someone out there can tell me. Have we ever had three players from our squad in the same team starting eleven for a single country.
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 07:37 - Sep 12 samsonblue, in 1975 I think we had 3 playing for England against Scotland
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