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Almirón makes his return in Paraguay win
Miguel Almirón stepped up his return from injury over the weekend, helping Paraguay earn a 2-0 win over Guatemala.
The Newcastle United winger, whose season was curtailed by a hamstring injury, has been working towards regaining fitness ahead of this month’s Copa America.
And on Sunday night the 25-year-old lined up for his country in what was his first outing since United’s 3-1 win over Southampton in April, playing the full 90 minutes at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco.
A header from Gustavo Gomez and Derlis Gonzalez’s penalty sealed the win for Paraguay, with Almirón coming through the contest unscathed ahead of his side’s Copa America group stage opener against Qatar on Sunday.
Fabian Schär’s Switzerland, meanwhile, were beaten on penalties by England in the UEFA Nations League third place play-off on Sunday.
The Magpies defender started for Vladimir Petkovic’s side at Estadio D Alfonso Henriques, and helped to frustrate the Three Lions throughout a cagey contest.
The 27-year-old, who almost scored an own goal after inadvertently deflecting a cross onto the woodwork, played the full 120 minutes as Switzerland held on during extra time to take the game to penalties.
And, after former United man Kevin Mbabu had converted his spot-kick, Schär stepped up to fire home his penalty to level the scores at 5-5.
However, Josip Drmic saw his effort saved by Jordan Pickford, meaning Schär’s men missed out on finishing third in the inaugural Nations League tournament.
Elsewhere, young forward Elias Sørensen was on the scoresheet for Denmark Under-20s, but couldn’t prevent them from slipping to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Iceland.
Yannick Toure’s Switzerland Under-20s fared better, though, beating Austria 4-3 last week, with the United frontman playing the first half in Windischgarsten.
Salomón Rondón, who spent the 2018/19 campaign on loan at St. James’ Park, hit a brace for Venezuela as they beat the USA 3-0 on Sunday.
Rondón netted twice before the break in Cincinnati before being replaced with just over ten minutes remaining at the Nippert Stadium.
Goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka, though, didn’t get off the bench for Slovakia during their 5-1 win over Jordan on Friday, though former Magpies youngster Lubo Satka completed the full 90 minutes in Trnava.