International preview

It’s set to be a busy fortnight of European Championship and African Cup of Nations qualifiers for our international players, with some high-profile friendlies also on the agenda.

The next round of matches in Euro 2016 qualifying takes place this week, with plenty of Spurs interest in Group B.

Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele and Jan Vertonghen are with Belgium as they host Andorra on Friday, October 10, before an away trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Monday, October 13.

The latter opposition will visit Wales – for whom Ben Davies is in the squad – on Friday, with Ben’s nation then hosting Cyprus on Monday.

Vlad Chiriches and Romania host Hungary in Group F on Saturday, October 11, before visiting Finland on Tuesday, October 14, while Christian Eriksen’s Denmark will be in Group I action on the same days. They’re playing away to Albania on Saturday and at home to Portugal on Tuesday.

Andros Townsend retains his place in the England squad for their Group E matches at home to San Marino on Thursday, October 9, and away to Estonia on Sunday, October 12 – making him one of a number of our players in line to represent the Three Lions at various age levels this week.

Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Tom Carroll and Alex Pritchard – the latter two currently out on loan with Swansea City and Brentford – are all in the England Under-21 squad for a two-legged European Under-21 Championship qualifying play-off against Croatia. The first match takes place at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium on Friday before the Young Lions visit Croatia for the return on Tuesday.

Young defender Dominic Ball is with England Under-20s as they prepare for an international tournament in the Netherlands. They’re due to face Germany on Thursday, the host nation on Saturday and Turkey on Monday.

Midfielder Harry Winks, meanwhile, has three European Under-19 Championship qualifiers on the horizon with England Under-19s, taking on Belarus on Friday, Luxembourg on Sunday and Belgium on Wednesday, October 15.

Elsewhere, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb have African Cup of Nations qualifiers coming up with Togo and Algeria respectively. Ade and Togo face back-to-back matches against Uganda on Saturday and Wednesday, with Nabil’s Algeria playing Malawi away and at home on Saturday and Tuesday.

Two South American giants collide in an international friendly on Saturday with Erik Lamela’s Argentina taking on Brazil on neutral territory in Beijing. Argentina then face a further test away to Hong Kong on Tuesday, while Hugo Lloris and France will play friendlies at home to Portugal on Saturday and away to Armenia on Tuesday.

Young defender Cameron Carter-Vickers has been named in the USA Under-23 squad for their friendly in Brazil on Monday while Milos Veljkovic and Serbia have a two-legged European Under-21 Championship play-off against Spain. The home leg takes place on Friday, with the return in Spain on Tuesday.

Kenny McEvoy, currently on loan at Peterborough United, is in the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad for a friendly in Norway on Thursday, while Filip Lesniak is with Slovakia Under-19s for consecutive matches against Israel on Monday and Wednesday.