Kai Havertz scores for Germany; three play for England; Baba’s Ghana reach Africa Cup of Nations; others

Thursday’s international action was highlighted by another strong performance by Kai Havertz, who scored for Germany and saw another goal ruled out for offside in their 3-0 win over Iceland yesterday. Antonio Rüdiger also started while Timo Werner got ten minutes off the bench as Havertz’s replacement — as did former Chelsea prospect Jamal Musiala, who was making his national team debut at age 18.

Musiala had represented England at youth level, but the Three Lions did feature three Chelsea players still yesterday, including both full backs, Reece James and Ben Chilwell, and of course Mason Mount, who started in a midfield-three. All three of them picked up an assist in their laugher of a 5-0 win over San Marino. Not sure what’s the point of playing an international between England and San Marino, but play we must.

Elsewhere, Emerson got the start in Italy’s 2-0 win over Northern Ireland (Jorginho didn’t get called up due to a knock he suffered last week in training) and Andreas Christensen got the nod for Denmark in their 2-0 win over Greece. Young Armando Broja got a few minutes off the bench for Albania in their barnburner 1-0 win over Andorra.

In non-European action, Christian Pulisic played the first half in the USA’s easy 4-1 friendly win over Jamaica while Baba Rahman helped Ghana secure qualification for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-1 draw against South Africa. Congrats, Baba!