Around the Premier League: International Break Edition

With the international break for the 2024 European Qualifiers, the Premier League had no matches scheduled for this past week. However, this halt in matchplay allowed the Premier League’s top players to show their skills on an international level.

Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United representing Portugal, Pierre-Emile Højbjberg of Tottenham representing Denmark and Erling Haaland of Manchester City representing Norway were amongst the top performers.

Let’s dive into these top international performances from soccer’s top league.

Fernandes's strike leads Portugal over Slovakia.

Portugal's dominant Group J run continued when they traveled to take on Slovakia.

The green and red struggled early, with Slovakia having multiple good chances, but solid keeping from Diogo Costa kept the game scoreless.

Slovakia had another fantastic chance in the 42nd minute, but Lukás Haraslín’s strike struck the woodwork and stayed out.

Just when it appeared the game would be scoreless at the break, Fernandes struck.

In the 43rd minute, the 29-year-old received a pass from Bernardo Silva and drilled a shot home from a tight angle to break the deadlock.

Despite Slovakia’s best efforts, they could not break through Portugal's stout backline in the second half as the green and red held on to remain undefeated in qualifying play.

Haaland just keeps scoring.

Norway’s battle to return to European competition continued when they hosted Georgia.

Both sides had some excellent chances early, but it would be Norway who would convert first.

In the 25th minute, Antonio Nusa swung a cross to the far post that Haaland jumped and headed in. With the goal, Haaland now has 25 in his senior international career, which is good enough for the third most in Norwegian soccer history.

Eight minutes later, the blue and red would strike again, courtesy of Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard. Nusa slid a pass to Ødegaard that the 24-year-old blasted into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0 Norway.

Budu Zivzivadze scored in the 90th to cut Georgia’s deficit to one, but it came a little too late as Norway held on for the 2-1 victory.

With the victory, Norway remains within two points of second-place Spain with three games to play.

Højbjberg’s late magic lifts Denmark over Finland.

Finland hosted Denmark in a battle between two countries looking to keep pace with Group H leader Slovenia.

The goalkeepers stole the show throughout the match and stymied the limited opportunities from each side, but just when the game seemed destined to end scoreless, Højbjberg struck.

In the 86th minute, Joakim Mæhle sent a pass to Højbjberg, who took advantage of the Finland defense dropping back and ripped a powerful right-footed shot past the diving Lukas Hradecky and into the bottom left corner to give Denmark a lead they would never relinquish.

With the victory, Denmark jumped Finland in the Group H standings and is now tied with Slovenia for first place.

Ben Palillo is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email bgp5079@psu.edu.