Four Preston North End players featured for their countries during the November international break, with the highlight being Kian Best scoring on his England U19 debut.
The 18-year-old, who has broken through to the Preston North End first team this season, earned a first call-up to the squad which won the Marbella Cup thanks to three victories.
Best made his maiden appearance for England U19 in a 6-0 win over Romania, with North End’s left-sided defender assisting and scoring a fantastic goal, while manager Ryan Lowe was in attendance.
The Preston-born defender played 63 minutes in a 3-2 victory over Japan and then came on in the 69th minute for the 7-1 thrashing of Mexico, which secured the Marbella Cup for Simon Rusk’s side.
đ¤ One of our own. đŚ#pnefc pic.twitter.com/1z9Fuz3i0b
— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) November 15, 2023
Elsewhere, a place in next year’s Copa América was on the line for Liam Millar and Canada as they faced a two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final against Jamaica.
After adverse weather conditions postponed the first leg in Kingston by a day, North End’s No.23 was used as a 92nd-minute substitute in a 2-1 victory which set them up well for the return tie in Toronto.
However, they were beaten 3-2 on Tuesday evening, conceding all those goals in a 16-minute second-half period, and away goals meant Jamaica made it through to the Nations League finals and ultimately the Copa América.
Canada will still have a chance to qualify for their first ever Copa América, though, via a one-match Play-Off against Trinidad and Tobago in March.
Milutin OsmajiÄ was also looking to help his country reach a major tournament during the break, with Montenegro hoping to reach the UEFA EUROs, but they just missed out.
They went into the break knowing they needed two victories and for results elsewhere to go their way, and Milutin played the full 90 minutes as the nation got off to a great start by beating Lithuania 2-0.
Montenegro then headed to group leaders Hungary and went a goal up – with OsmajiÄ again starting – but the hosts turned the game around to win 3-1.
Serbia’s draw against Bulgaria, taking place at the same time, meant that even a win for Montenegro wouldn’t have been enough in the end for them to reach next summer’s tournament in Germany.
Finally, skipper Alan Browne went into the break knowing automatic qualification for the EUROs was no longer possible, but there was still one more fixture to play against the Netherlands.
Browney played the full 90 minutes in Amsterdam, where the hosts came out as 1-0 winners.
North End’s captain then came on in the 73rd minute of a 1-1 draw in a friendly against New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium to earn a 35th cap for his country.