Club News

Baggies ready for qualifying action

Baggies have nine first-team squad members on international duty

ALBION have nine first-team squad members away on international duty ahead of their next game with Stoke on Saturday week (ko 3pm).

Jonas Olsson faces crunch World Cup qualifiers as Sweden host nearest rivals Austria on Friday and Germany four days later in their final two games.

The second-placed Swedes are five points behind the Germans and three points ahead of the Austrians in European Group C.

In the same group Shane Long is away with fourth-placed Republic of Ireland, who are six points off the play-off spot.

They take on Germany and Kazakhstan on the same days.

Boaz Myhill has joined up with bottom-of-the-table Wales for their Group A encounters with Macedonia and Belgium.

James Morrison and Graham Dorrans have both linked up with Scotland for their final Group A game with Croatia on Tuesday.

Gareth McAuley and Chris Brunt are with Northern Ireland as they wrap up their Group F campaign with matches against Azerbaijan and Israel.

Diego Lugano is reporting for Uruguay as they prepare to visit Ecuador on Friday and host Argentina four days later in South America World Cup qualifying action.

Saido Berahino has joined up with England Under-21s for their European Championships qualifiers against San Marino on Thursday and Lithuania tomorrow week.

International action comes too soon for Zoltan Gera and Matej Vydra, who are all just coming back from injury.