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Jonjo Shelvey impresses for England as defensive midfield option

By on September 6, 2015

Jonjo Shelvey, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Ashley Williams left Swansea City for international duty tied third in the Premier League on points with Leicester City, and should all return in even higher spirits (which says something, given Williams was representing Wales in qualifying for a major tournament). Shelvey put in a slick passing display in his first starting in an England shirt, while Sigurdsson scored the winning goal for Iceland in a famous victory over the Netherlands and Williams kept two clean sheets for Wales in three days. Richard Lewis takes a look at how Swansea’s stars have fared around their endeavors in Euro 2016 qualifying over the international break.

Shel Raiser!

Facing Manchester United and Chelsea inside their first four fixtures of the season, nobody could have predicted that Swansea would go into the international break unbeaten. Yet as The Swans collectively impressed in their win over United and draw with Chelsea, Shelvey earned his first international call up in almost three years.

Shelley jumped at the opportunity with a Man-of-the-Match performance against the minnows of San Marino in a comfortable 6-0 away win to seal the Three Lions place at next summer’s Euros. Ironically, his first cap also came against San Marino in World Cup 2014 qualifying (England won 5-0), so it is harder to judge the twenty-three-year-old after two appearances facing the part-timers and general whipping boys (hey, at least they’ve won more points than Andorra and Gibraltar).

However, he should have the opportunity of facing Switzerland when they visit Wembley on Wednesday as Hodgson explores the options he gives in a deep-lying central midfield role when Jack Wilshere gets injured again (it’s a question of when not if, really) and Michael Carrick eventually retires from international football.

Shelvey will have the chance to potentially be a part of history against the Swiss, as Wayne Rooney searches to create a stand-alone record of fifty goals for The Three Lions after he equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of forty-nine thanks to an early penalty against San Marino.

Icelandic volcano erupts Holland’s Hopes!

Iceland have been one of the (unsurprisingly many) surprise packages of Euro qualifying, eclipsing group rivals the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Turkey in Group A to top the group, leaving the Dutch in the precarious position of relying on a playoff (if they win their last two matches of the qualifying group stage and rely on Turkey slipping two points) to reach France.

Sigurdsson has led the charge for Iceland with his five goals, including a winner from the penalty spot against a Netherlands team that finished third at the World Cup last summer, which secured Iceland’s first berth in the Euros. Sigurdsson may just be the best thing to come out of Iceland since all computer backgrounds and screen-savers, ever.

Williams extends good form to international duty

Some of Ashley Williams’ recent displays for the dragons of Wales and the Swans of, er, Swansea have very much proved that defense is a good offense, particularly given that Wales seem to be at something of a loss of them, beating Cyrus 1-0 and drawing Israel goalless (only rock bottom Andorra have scored fewer goals than Wales in Group B). The thirty-one-year-old captain has marshaled the Welsh back-line and showed all the qualities required to be a top leader and may be rewarded with becoming the first player to lead out a Wales team at a major tournament since 1958.

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale has scored six of the Welsh’s nine goals in qualifying so far, but Williams has undoubtedly been critical to a team effort in achieving the ultimatum of being ranked above England in the latest FIFA rankings (granted, those FIFA rankings are about as reflective of the truth as FIFA president Sepp Blatter).

However, with the next Euros less than a year away, the spots are starting to fill and England are already there. With an expanded pot of twenty-four teams, many nations will live the dream of qualification. Yet every fairy-tale (or self-respecting one) needs a dragon and Wales are one win away from qualifying — a fitting tribute for former manager Gary Speed.

Homepage photo credit: Chris Barnes, via Flickr

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.