This Saturday, Stoke City will make their Championship debut when they travel to Oxford United, who were just promoted.
As Steven Schumacher prepares Stoke City for a return to action in the Championship, he is waiting on his internationals to return unscathed.
Prior to their two-week vacation, Stoke defeated Plymouth 1-0 on the road in the league and Middlesbrough 5-0 in the Carabao Cup. Nine players will be traveling the globe for international assignments.
For the England under-18s, Sol Sidibe and Jaden Dixon seem to have survived three matches unharmed, and Viktor Johansson has shown promise in his two appearances for Sweden, which included a 3-0 victory against Estonia in Stockholm last night.
Million Manhoef will play for the Netherlands under-21s against Georgia at home in Limburg this evening at 7 p.m., while Lewis Koumas is ready to make his Nations League debut for Wales this evening (7.45 p.m.) against Montenegro.
Tommy Simkin, Ashley Phillips, and Emre Tezgel will play their final game for the England under-20 team on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Romania. On Tuesday at 5 p.m., Andrew Moran will play for the Ireland under-21 team against Latvia at home.
In an effort to ensure his recovery from a calf strain, Jordan Thompson withdrew from his Northern Ireland assignment. Michael Rose (ankle) and Enda Stevens (calf) are both aiming to rejoin Schumacher’s team this week. Sam Gallagher, a summer addition (calf), shouldn’t trail too far behind either.
Bosun Lawal (back) is scheduled to provide an update this week after undergoing scans during the international break in the hopes of receiving the go-ahead to intensify his training. With a fractured wrist, Jack Bonham has been resting it, knowing that he would be ready to play if Johansson was unexpectedly sidelined.
Ben Pearson (hamstring) is the long-term absentee after requiring surgery in the off-season. He has been hoping to be back in training in October with a task of then building up his fitness to become available for selection.
Tom Cannon and Tatsuki Seko are both available for selection at Oxford, having been signed too late on deadline day to be considered for the Plymouth game.
Stoke are next in under-21s action with a Premier League 2 game against Arsenal at the bet365 Stadium on Monday, September 23 (7pm) and their next Central League match is against Huddersfield Town next month.
