Sunderland had a former player on international duty this month, going up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.
Sunderland haven’t had too many current first-team players featuring during this month’s international break.
Trai Hume and Chris Mepham are the only ones to have represented their nations at senior level, though Mepham didn’t make it off the bench for Wales.
Dan Ballard was injured with Northern Ireland and so he didn’t play a part for Michael O’Neil’s side, despite being called up.
Overall, Regis Le Bris may be pleased that the likes of Mepham and Ballard got a break from playing action this month, with another congested run of fixtures coming up.
The Black Cats return to Championship action with a trip to Hull City this weekend where new signing Aaron Connolly could be poised to make what would be an emotional debut against his former club.
He’s the new name at the Stadium of Light right now. Meanwhile, an older name of the club in Craig Gordon has since made his return to international football, age 41.
Scottish media rate Craig Gordon performance vs Portugal
For this month’s internationals, former Sunderland man Gordon received a call up to the Scotland national side.
He made a substitute appearance for Steve Clarke’s side earlier this season, but amid an injury to Angus Gunn, the current Hearts man was brought in as the no.1.
Once Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper with the Black Cats, Gordon started the 2-1 defeat against Croatia last week and then the 0-0 draw against Portugal on Tuesday night, marking his first starts for Scotland since 2022.
He made saves against Cristiano Ronaldo and then one impressive save from close-range against Bruno Fernandes as well.
Gordon made three saves on the night, with The Herald giving him an 8/10 rating, adding: “Saved comfortably from Ronaldo’s first sight of goal, much to the ironic cheers from the sold-out crowd.
“One for the cameras to deny a Nuno Mendes free kick wide on the right. Thankfully denied Bruno Fernandes with a point-blank stop on the line as the game approached the 90.
“The veteran didn’t have a whole lot to do, but of course, had to remain alert throughout. A clean sheet against a team of Portugal’s quality is not to be sniffed at.”
Sunderland gem Anthony Patterson could emulate Craig Gordon heroics
Anthony Patterson is the current no.1 at Sunderland. And if he can have a career with the same longevity as Gordon’s, and be playing at such a high level at his age as well, then it’ll be a great career.
Likewise, Gordon has had an impressive career so far, and it doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of ending soon.
He’s still holding his own on the global stage, going up against one of the greatest of all-time in Ronaldo.
Patterson has a long way to go before he’s held in the same regards. But he’s certainly got the potential to be playing on the international stage one day.