A trio of Foxes in action for countries

THREE City players were in action for their countries over the weekend.

Patson Daka started for Zambia against Zimbabwe, who had City squad forward Tawanda Maswanhise among their substitutes.

Zambia led 2-0 through goals from Stoppila Sunzu and Clatous Chama, but Macauley Bonne and Walter Musona replied for Zimbabwe.

The friendly was settled by a penalty shootout in which Daka scored but which Zambia lost 6-5.

Jannik Vestergaard started for Denmark, who drew 0-0 with Switzerland.

City loanee Victor Kristiansen, playing this season for Bologna, started for the Danes, while goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was an unused substitute.

Wout Faes played for England’s next opponents, Belgium, in their 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland.

England are ranked third in the world and Belgium a place below them.

Coach Gareth Southgate said he was expecting a stern test.

He said: “Belgium have played a different 11 probably, or close to, so they’re going to be a bit fresher.

“But similar to (Brazil) we’re talking about a high-level game, brilliant experience for the players, a chance to see new players again, build towards the summer.

“I’m not disappointed with the level of performance. I know in the end when you lose the game then there will always be a negative reaction to losing.

“But my thought was, with 15 minutes to go given all the changes that we’d made, I thought the crowd was already with the team.

“They could see a lot of young players going in and doing well, a lot of very inexperienced players going in and doing well, so I’m not down on the performance of the team at all.”

He told the BBC: “We’ve learned an awful lot ahead of the summer that’s really important.

“You know, some of these boys are pushing for starting positions, some are pushing for places in the squad.

“You need to see them against that sort of level of opposition.”