All the world is football shaped
PROOF of Albion’s global influence comes this week as our players head for its four corners – a scientific impossibility, but bear with us – to represent myriad nations.
Ben Foster will be joining up with Roy Hodgson’s England squad as they face European Championship qualifiers against San Marino at Wembley on Thursday and Estonia on Sunday, October 12 in Tallinn.
Scotland play at Ibrox on Saturday, October 11 when Graham Dorrans and James Morrison will hope to be in the team that takes on Georgia, before they head to Warsaw for another European Championship qualifier against Poland next Tuesday.
The Northern Irish trio of Chris Brunt, Gareth McAuley and Chris Baird also have two qualifiers ahead of them, against the Faroe Islands at Windsor Park on Saturday and Greece in Piraeus next Tuesday.
Georgios Samaras is likely to form part of the Greek side in that game, with Greece also having a qualifier against Finland in Helsinki this Saturday.
Jonas Olsson joins up with Sweden's squad ahead of two home qualifiers in Solna, starting with Russia this Thursday and Liechtenstein on Sunday.
Sebastien Pocognoli returns to the Belgium squad for their qualifiers with Andorra in Brussels on Friday and against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Zenica next Monday.
Youssouf Mulumbu teams up with his DR Congo team-mates for back-to-back qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations against Ivory Coast, the first in Kinshasha on Saturday, the return in Abidjan next Wednesday.
Saido Berahino is involved in a double-header too as England Under-21s face Croatia in the European Championship play-off, the first leg at Molineux on Friday, the return at Vinkovci next Tuesday.
Jason Davidson has a trip to the Middle East where Australia will play two friendlies, against the UAE in Abu Dhabi on Friday and then Qatar in Doha next Tuesday.
Cristian Gamboa will be doing plenty of travelling too as Costa Rica face Oman in Muscat on Friday and South Korea in Seoul next Tuesday.
Among Albion’s younger contingent, Bradley Garmston will be joining up with the Republic of Ireland’s Under-21s for a friendly with Norway in Drammen on Thursday, while Shaun Donnellan and Jack Hallahan will be with Ireland’s Under-19s for two games in Sweden on Wednesday and Friday this week.