Uncommon International Goalscorers This Weekend - 04/09/21

England welcome Andorra to Wembley this weekend and this will give Gareth Southgate the perfect opportunity to give a first cap to Leeds United forward Patrick Bamford. After being unfortunate to miss out on the Euro 2020 squad, Bamford has now been given his chance to compete for the spot of first-choice backup behind Harry Kane along with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings.

With Calvert-Lewin out injured and Watkins and Ings left out, this is Bamford’s chance to prove he is capable at international level, after proving his worth as a Premier League striker last season with 17 goals, and he is off the mark this season too, following his goal against Burnley. With three internationals in a week during this break, Bamford is bound to start ahead of Kane for at least one of the matches, and it will most likely be against their weakest opponents, Andorra.

When England faced San Marino in March, Calvert-Lewin started and scored twice while Watkins came off the bench for a debut goal. Bamford, if given the opportunity, will fancy his chances of doing the same against a similar level of opposition on Sunday.

A name familiar to many in England is Brighton & Hove Albion’s Jakub Moder, the man who scored for Poland at Wembley in March. He is often utilised as a wing-back by Graham Potter, but with Poland, he has proven his worth as a more advanced winger or as a central midfielder too.

Their upcoming match away to San Marino will give manager Paulo Sousa a chance to rotate his squad around a bit, especially with the huge qualifier against England, which will follow three days later. Moder could be one of the men to benefit as he could be used in a more attacking sense with very little defensive duties to worry about against a side of San Marino’s ability.

Moder has two goals in his 12 Poland caps and also netted four in 14 for his previous club Lech Poznan last season before joining Brighton in January, so for a midfielder, he does have an eye for goal, and his expertly taken finish against England justifies that. Against much weaker opposition, chances should not be too hard to come by.

One of the stories of the World Cup qualifiers so far has been that of Luxembourg. One of the smallest nations in Europe have started their campaign with two wins from three against Ireland and Azerbaijan, while also taking the lead against Portugal before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat.

Their next qualifier away in Serbia could be critical because if they were to get a result, then they stand a real chance of making it into the playoffs at least. The man who has been behind everything good so far has been Gerson Rodrigues. He has netted in all three group games, scoring a fantastic winner in Dublin to mark one of the finest moments in the history of the country’s national side.

A good omen for Luxembourg is that they won away to Serbia’s neighbours Montenegro last October, and that along with the win in Ireland shows they are no longer one of the bottom tier whipping boys of European football. The two sides met in Euro 2020 qualifying and even though Serbia won both games, Luxembourg scored three goals across the two meetings.

The pace of Rodrigues could be vital as they will look to hit Serbia on the break in Belgrade, and if anyone is going to get on the scoresheet for them, you can not look past the Troyes winger replicating the goal he scored in a 3-2 loss here last November.

All the attention will be on Erling Haaland when Norway travel to Riga to face Latvia on Saturday, and understandably so after his goal against the Dutch on Wednesday, but the Norwegians have a very good pool of attacking talent, including Arsenal’s new permanent signing, Martin Odegaard.

The national team captain will hope that playing the minnows will present a chance for him to improve his poor goalscoring return for his nation. Despite good attacking returns during his spells with Heerenveen, Vitesse and Real Sociedad, and a goal in the North London Derby for Arsenal last season, he has just one international goal.

While assists are his main objective, a Norway team with a stacked attack should be able to carve out more than a few chances against a weak Latvian side, and Odegaard could be one of those to benefit.

After drawing 1-1 away to Belgium in March and reaching the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, the Czech Republic will be highly optimistic they can perform well in their qualifying group alongside Roberto Martinez’s team of superstars, who they will face again this weekend on home turf.

Belgium’s defence was far from convincing in the Euros, and truth be told, never has done under Martinez’s stewardship. The Czechs who put six past Estonia just days before that draw with Belgium in March will fancy they can breach the Belgian defence again, which still contains the same players who featured in the summer.

Patrik Schick and Tomas Soucek are the obvious favourites to get amongst the goals, but one attacking outlet that may go under the radar is Antonin Barak of Hellas Verona. He scored one of the six in Estonia, clocking up his sixth international goal in just 23 caps. Plus, he also enjoyed a fruitful spell in Serie A last season, getting seven goals from midfield, just like he did in his previous injury-free season in Italy, with Udinese in 2017-18. Often utilised as a number ten for his country, expect Barak to be involved in the Czech’s attacks.