Big Lad, big opportunity

While his long-term future may still be uncertain, with the hierarchy reportedly unwilling to grant the Silver Fox's request for a contract extension, Big Lad's short-term prospects look bright. Goals in consecutive home games for his club have no doubt helped to ensure his name appears in Nigeria's provisional squad ahead of the World Cup.

The Super Eagles' opponents in the group stage include Argentina - while it's unlikely we'll get to watch Big Lad being marked by Sideshow Bob, stranger things have happened...

The boy Den Good

Congratulations to Curtis Good, who can now boast as many full international caps as he can first-team appearances for Newcastle. The 20-year-old defender, currently on loan at Dundee Utd, made his debut for Australia on Wednesday night in a friendly fixture against Ecuador, putting in a performance that the Guardian's reporter rated as "solid" and lasting 66 minutes before succumbing to a hip injury.

While England toiled to an uninspiring 1-0 win over Denmark at Wembley, the game across London at the New Den served up splendid entertainment. Good's side led 3-0 at the break, but by the time our man was withdrawn, Ecuador had pulled two goals back, the second a spot kick after Aussie 'keeper Mitch Langerak was sent off. The South American side went on to equalise and then, three minutes into stoppage time, to grab a dramatic winner after Good's replacement Alex Wilkinson was guilty of giving the ball away.

The knock and the final result didn't seem to take much gloss off the evening for Good, who gushed: "You dream about it your whole life - it's the absolute highlight of my career. I felt so confident out there." It will serve as vital big-game experience - not least because his previous taste of such an occasion ended in acute disappointment, when he was hauled off at half-time as Bradford lost 5-0 to Swansea in last season's League Cup final. Hopes are high that Good might one day be ready to step into the first team - but let's not forget the sad case of another promising young foreign defender, Tamas Kadar, who failed to live up to his considerable potential and is now back in his native Hungary.

While Good was turning out for the Socceroos, Mathieu Debuchy was busy playing all but the final three minutes of France's 2-0 victory over the Netherlands. Loic Remy and Moussa Sissoko both also appeared, though only from the bench.

Elsewhere, Papiss Cisse and Mr T were on international duty for Senegal and Ivory Coast respectively - the latter mustering an impressive 2-2 draw in Brussels against a Belgian side many people (myself included) fancy to be a real force over the next few years, though the game was most notable for a staggering miss by Villa's Christian Benteke.

Finally, Fergie got a welcome reminder of what it's like to lace up his boots, enjoying a spell as a substitute as Northern Ireland laboured to a stalemate in Cyprus. Much as I like Lee Clark and want him to do well, it's baffling as to why he's excluding our winger from his Birmingham squad. Leaving him twiddling his thumbs on the sidelines is doing no one any favours.

Tres bon!

A doff of le chapeau to France, who last night overcame a 2-0 first-leg deficit to beat Ukraine 3-2 on aggregate and secure themselves an improbable place at next year's World Cup. While the goals came from Karim Benzema and the unlikely source of Liverpool central defender Mamadou Sakho (twice), two of our players certainly played their part, Dreamboat's scuffed shot ultimately falling to an offside Benzema for the second goal and Mathieu Debuchy clearing off the line with the aggregate scores level at 2-2. The full back was later booked and withdrawn, while neither Moussa Sissoko nor Loic Remy were called upon.

Meanwhile, on Monday night Big Lad was compensated for missing out on Nigeria's play-off victory against Ethiopia with a start in the friendly fixture against Italy. Evidently determined to seize the opportunity to impress, he sent in the cross for the Super Eagles' equaliser and then scored a fine volleyed finish in a game that ended 2-2. The match was played at Craven Cottage, where we don't have a great record - hopefully Big Lad can repeat the trick when we face Fulham on their own turf in March.

Cheik in

Even if Mr T's had a rough time off the pitch of late, things have been going well on it - named as stand-in skipper in Sideshow Bob's absence and back to something like the form that made him one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League. And now he knows he'll be off to next year's World Cup, after Ivory Coast qualified for the tournament via a two-legged play-off victory over Senegal. Mr T was actually suspended, while Papiss Cisse played for the latter, but couldn't score - something that must have frustrated Demba Ba, left on the bench.

Elsewhere, Nigeria also qualified, beating Ethopia 2-0 on aggregate, but Big Lad will be sweating about a ticket on the Super Eagles' plane to Brazil, having been omitted from the squad despite his recent return to the Newcastle starting XI.

Blue shirts, red faces

On Friday evening a France squad stuffed with Newcastle players failed to do what England managed a couple of months earlier - namely, prevent Ukraine scoring on their own turf. The 2-0 defeat in Kiev was the first leg of les Bleus' World Cup qualification play-off, and they now face the very real possibility of having to sit out a major tournament for the first time in 20 years. Mathieu Debuchy and Loic Remy both started the game, the latter replaced by Moussa Sissoko just after the hour mark. Dreamboat, however, was left kicking his heels on the bench - somewhat mystifying given the obvious need for a creative spark. L'Equipe blasted the performance as possibly "the worst in history", while Le Monde pointed the finger at the Premier League contingent. They'll have to up their game considerably if they're to stand any chance of turning it around in the second leg.

Allez les Bleus le Bleu

While England were busy deferring the inevitable disappointment of failure until next summer, France had to settle for a World Cup play-off despite beating Finland 3-0. Dreamboat may have scored in the 6-0 rout of Australia, but he nevertheless found himself dropped to the bench like club colleague Loic Remy - the pair joining Moussa Sissoko as onlookers, with Mathieu Debuchy somewhat inexplicably our only representative in the French starting XI.

Both Dreamboat and Remy made second-half appearances, the latter hitting the post, though it was fellow substitute Karim Benzema who scored the third. The duo have been arguably our best performers so far this season, and we'll be desperate for them to report back for club duty fit and well ahead of Saturday's visit of Liverpool. For his part, Debuchy - who set up France's second goal and almost scored himself - will need to erase the memory of last season's fixture, which we lost 6-0 and during which he was red-carded...

Dream return for Dreamboat

It was a good weekend for our French contingent, as Les Bleus filled their boots in a 6-0 friendly rout of Australia. Dreamboat marked his return to the team with a fine goal, his low shot swerving through a defender's legs and into the bottom corner after nice build-up play from Samir Nasri and Franck Ribery, and two minutes after half-time Mathieu Debuchy got in on the act with the fifth. Loic Remy should be pleased that his recent goalscoring exploits in black and white secured him a start, even if he'll have been disappointed not to get his name on the scoresheet as well as the teamsheet, while Moussa Sissoko came off the bench in the last ten minutes.

Elsewhere, there was also a goal for Papiss Cisse - no more than a consolation against an Ivory Coast side for whom Mr T played and was booked (naturally), but a goal nevertheless and hopefully a useful boost to his confidence.

Big Lad's on tour

While the nation was roaring on one 31-year-old late developer (in international terms) this week, another was scoring his first goal for his country. His younger brother may have been following in his footsteps by turning out for England U21s, but Big Lad has since pledged his allegiance to Nigeria and broke his duck in a friendly against Burkina Faso. Despite expressing delight in his post-match interview, he did also hint at a dispute with his employers - the clearest evidence yet that he was barred from playing for his country in January against his will: "It's unfortunate I missed the African Cup of Nations triumph. A lot of things happened that I don't want to go into."

Also on the scoresheet this week was Haris Vuckic, who netted in both of Slovenia U21s' fixtures - something that will presumably have caught the Silver Fox's eye, given that we've been short of goals as well as creativity in our opening few games.

You have to feel some sympathy for Shane Ferguson, for whom the international fixtures provided no respite whatsoever from what is already shaping up to be a tough season for Birmingham. First the Northern Irishman was asked to fill in at left back at home to Portugal and found himself part of a defence tormented and tortured as Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick and overhauled Eusebio's scoring record in the process. Of course, it didn't help that they finished the game two men light... Worse was to come, though, in the form of an embarrassing 3-2 defeat to lowly Luxembourg.

Also in action for their countries were Sideshow Bob, Moussa Sissoko and Mr T. It'll be interesting to see if the latter gets the nod ahead of Vurnon Anita for tomorrow's trip to Villa - or indeed whether both miss out if the Silver Fox decides to reintroduce Dreamboat at the expense of a defensive midfielder rather than sacrificing a more forward-thinking player.

The outsiders

Saturday's substitute appearance wasn't enough to get Dreamboat a place in the French squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers - an omission which came as a "shock" to the player, according to the Silver Fox, who is planning on using the down time to hold clear-the-air talks with the midfielder and his representatives. With any luck, he'll realise he can't now leave until January anyway, so he might as well start putting in the sort of effort and performances that might merit a big-money move away from Tyneside.

Meanwhile, our 25-man Premier League squad was announced yesterday. We can adjust it again in January, but until then there's no room for loanees Shane Ferguson, Conor Newton and Romain Amalfitano. While the latter two are no great loss, it is something of a surprise that Ferguson - who has at times looked close to breaking into the first team and gives us a useful option wide on the left - has been omitted in favour of Raylor, who is widely expected to be out for the whole season. Unless the Silver Fox knows something that we don't...

The boyo done good

Setting transfer window issues aside, congratulations to Paul Dummett, whose elevation to the Newcastle first-team squad has resulted in a similar elevation to the senior Welsh squad for the forthcoming international fixtures. Whether he makes his bow alongside the world's most expensive player remains to be seen.

Fellow left-sided player Shane Ferguson has been enduring a tougher time at Birmingham. Despite creating the opening goal for Matt Green with a delicious cross in the 3-2 defeat at Leicester, the Northern Irishman was dropped to the bench for Saturday's visit of Ipswich. Blues appear to have continued last season's form, much to Lee Clark's dismay, and the picture is even less rosy off the pitch, as detailed in a recent post on The Two Unfortunates.

Meanwhile, Mehdi Abeid scored a somewhat fortuitous goal for his loan club Panathanaikos at the weekend. Scoring is something that Adam Campbell wasn't given the opportunity to do on loan in Cumbria - he's already back on Tyneside, a clearly disgruntled Silver Fox commenting "That didn’t work out at Carlisle, and he won’t be going back there". He may only be back temporarily, though, with a move to hook up with Conor Newton at St Mirren a possibility.

Steve Davis may have talked up Brad Inman's future, but his recent past at Crewe has been far from encouraging. He played for 21 minutes off the bench as the Railwaymen lost to League One leaders Leyton Orient, and was then handed a start for the trip to Swindon last weekend - only for the home side to romp to a 5-0 victory. The identity of the Robins' first scorer? Inman's former club colleague the Lone Ranger.

On the subject of familiar faces, the Reserves were beaten 5-4 by West Ham yesterday, despite taking a three-goal lead through a Jonathyn Quinn hat-trick. You ain't seen nothing like the mighty Quinn? Well, the Hammers had - one Elliot Lee, who grabbed a hat-trick of his own, two goals coming from the spot. The onlooker with conflicted loyalties? That would be his dad, Rob Lee.

Big Lad back in the frame

As international exiles (or retirements) go, Big Lad's was somewhat short-lived. Only last week Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi was lamenting the fact that our long-serving striker repeatedly made himself unavailable and so would need to be overlooked in future. And yet now he's back in the fold.

The key to his return appears to have been the removal of a clause in his Newcastle contract preventing him from competing in the Africa Cup of Nations. The fact that we've consented to this would suggest that we're no longer so bothered about him being available for selection by the Silver Fox - an indication that the much-needed striking replacement for Demba Ba is on the way, or just that Big Lad is deemed too old or too inconsistent to be of much use? We'll see, but perhaps it's both.

Update 1: Commenter Paul has suggested that in fact any such clause would be virtually meaningless, as it would be in contravention of the FIFA regulations - so a third possibility is that the Nigerian FA have gently reminded the club of this and it's been dropped.

Update 2: Since the last update, another commenter suggested that the mooted "clause" was actually simply an informal agreement - something borne out by Big Lad's latest comments. So a case of something getting twisted in translation, then. Still, regardless of the semantics and intricacies, it remains interesting that the club has now decided to no longer stand in his way.

Super Eagle flies the nest

Recent comments from Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi strongly indicate that Big Lad's international career for the Super Eagles is over before it even really started: "Shola showed a lot of experience when he played against Venezuela last year, but we've not been able to get him to return. His experience would have been valuable to this young team right now but I've realised he wants to be left alone for now. He has shown he is not prepared to play for us and we have to move on and give other players an opportunity to represent the country. We can only wish Shola all the best and concentrate on those we have in the present squad." What a shame to see the door closing on "a young kid ... getting better and better" - according to JFK, at least...

One of the potential beneficiaries of Big Lad's disappearance from the international frame (perhaps under pressure from his employers, you imagine) might be a certain Obafemi Martins, now plying his trade for the Seattle Sounders. The way things are looking, we'd be delighted to have the erratic but occasionally astoundingly brilliant marksman back in black and white...

Les Bleus get the blues

Tuesday night saw the home nations turn in a pretty dismal collection of results - and it was no better for France, who went down 1-0 at home to Spain, surrendering their lead at the top of their World Cup 2014 qualifying group to the reigning world and European champions.

Moussa Sissoko made another appearance from the substitute's bench, his arrival greeted by a chorus of boos - though those were directed at the player he was replacing, misfiring Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

Meanwhile, having sat out Friday's disappointing draw with Finland, Dreamboat played the first 70 minutes. The result isn't likely to have done much for the mood of a player who has confessed to suffering from depression following Euro 2012. That (and fatigue) would explain our stand-in skipper's sluggish start to the season, when there did seem to be some kind of lingering malaise that some were attributing to our failure to reunite him with pal Mathieu Debuchy. Thanks are apparently due to Jonny Wilkinson and Rafa Nadal for helping him dispel the black clouds, and here's hoping he can stay fit and firing on all cylinders for our run-in.

England calling

Congratulations to Saylor who has, finally, been called up by Roy Hodgson to the current England squad. Having seen centre-halves drop like flies (or, in the case of Rio Ferdinand, complain for ages that he’s not being picked and then decline to turn up when he eventually is), Roy was left with little choice but to turn to our former England U21 captain.

Saylor’s prospects of making his senior debut for his country look reasonable, when you consider that the options in front of him are similarly inexperienced and in the majority of cases are short of game time this season. Hopefully he’ll enjoy the confidence boost and return reinvigorated (and still fit) for the games which lie ahead.

As one Newcastle player’s England career looks to begin, one of our old boys is calling time on his, with Little Saint Mick finally deciding to put himself out to stud at the end of the season. 

Of course, there are those who might suggest Owen stopped playing football a long time ago… 

Unable to force his way back into the England fold once Shteeve McLaren went Dutch, our one-time striker never managed to live up to the heights predicted when he emerged as a youngster who was widely expected to beat Bobby Charlton’s England scoring record.

As the list of goals/games in the BBC article illustrates, Owen's career never fulfilled the potential he showed at Liverpool, thanks in no small part to his appalling attitude when on Tyneside when he repeatedly put country before club to the detriment of all parties. 30 goals in 79 games over four years is frankly nothing but a pitiful return for a £17 million signing earning a ridiculous amount of money per week.

The fact that in a montage of career highlights, the Guardian completely glosses over the four years he was a paid employee of our club speaks volumes for the contribution made by our record signing.

Proud though he undoubtedly is at being called up by his country, I somehow don't think Saylor will make the same career choices.

France flop but Brad bangs 'em in

Wednesday was a disappointing night for our French internationals, as the Germans beat them for the first time since 1987. The home side took the lead in Paris, too, our man of the moment Moussa Sissoko setting up Mathieu Valbuena with a header after Karim Benzema's free-kick had struck the bar. But two second-half goals condemned the French to defeat, and while Dreamboat played the whole game, Sissoko was withdrawn and club colleagues Mathieu Debuchy and MYM sat kicking their heels on the bench all evening. Proof, perhaps, that Sissoko isn't superhuman after all.

Meanwhile, closer to home, loanee Bradden Inman continued to impress for Crewe, scoring two fine goals as the Railwaymen romped to a 3-0 first-leg lead over Coventry in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday night, watched by a staggering 31,000 people. The prize is a big day out at Wembley against either Leyton Orient or Southend, the latter holding a 1-0 advantage from their first-leg encounter. What an experience that would be for the lad.

Big Lad, big headache for the Silver Fox

Congratulations to Big Lad, who on Wednesday evening belatedly made his full international bow at the age of 31 - and for the country of his birth, Nigeria, rather than England. He never had the opportunity to team up with former Toon colleague Obafemi Martins, instead finding himself as Martins' replacement, but did manage to set up the Super Eagles' third and final goal in the victory over Venezuela. Having felt "honoured" by the experience, he's now hoping he's done enough to force his way into Stephen Keshi's Africa Cup of Nations squad. The Silver Fox could be forgiven for hoping otherwise.

Elsewhere, the domestically suspended Sideshow Bob helped Argentina keep a clean sheet against the mighty Saudi Arabia and, from a club perspective, it was a relief that Mr T, Davide Santon and Tim Krul spent all evening on the benches for their respective countries. However, the fact that Dreamboat didn't feature in France's win over Santon's Italy was less worthy of celebration - his absence due to an injury that might rule him out of tomorrow's visit of Swansea. With Spidermag having limped out of last weekend's disappointing home defeat to Fat Sam's West Ham, we suddenly look very light in central and attacking midfield areas.

A further source of frustration is that Papiss Cisse might also miss out due to administrative error. He withdrew from the Senegal squad for their friendly with Niger (as did Demba Ba) with a slight back injury, but it seems that the communication never reached the national team's coach and now they're threatening to bar us from playing him. It could only happen to us...

Where the Super Eagles dare

Congratulations (I guess) to Big Lad, who's won himself a call-up to the Nigeria squad for next week's friendly against Venezuela in Miami, where he might find himself paired with former Toon teammate Obafemi Martins.

It would be uncharitable not to be pleased for the player at the prospect of getting a full international cap at the age of 31. However, the timing isn't ideal, what with Papiss Cisse yet to hit his goalscoring stride and Demba Ba apparently carrying a knock that will keep him out of tonight's match in Belgium. Furthermore, the danger now is that we lose Big Lad to the Africa Cup of Nations in January (though admittedly his absence would be mitigated by the fact that both Ba and Cisse are both staying put on Tyneside).

Big Lad is likely to be the centre of attention tonight, when (as the Silver Fox has confirmed) he lines up alongside Little Big Lad in the starting line-up for the first time - also the first time two brothers have turned out for us since the Robledos in the 50s.

Out of Africa

A reminder that it's not just England whose qualifiers for major tournaments are shrouded in controversy and farce: confirmation that Senegal have been disqualified from next year's African Cup of Nations, the spot taken by the Ivory Coast instead. That means that, as expected, we'll be without Mr T rather than Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse in January. While it's a worry to be deprived of our defensive midfield lynchpin, we did have to cope with his absence at the start of this season, and Vurnon Anita and Bigi have a bit of time to step up to the plate.

It'll be all riot on the night

Confusion appears to reign supreme following the abandonment of yesterday's second-leg qualifier for the African Cup of Nations between Senegal and the Ivory Coast. The game was stopped after 70 minutes, with visitors the Ivory Coast winning 2-0 (and 6-2 on aggregate), following rioting among home fans sparked by a controversial penalty decision.

It's not yet been confirmed whether the result will stand, but the likelihood is that we'll be without Mr T rather than the two Dembas come January. Of more immediate significance, however, is the wellbeing of the players. The Ivory Coast side had to be escorted off the pitch by riot police, but thankfully there aren't as yet any reports of injuries. Let's hope they're shaken rather than stirred.

Shane steps up

Congratulations to Shane Ferguson - a young player who stands a significantly better chance of first-team action this season than the Lone Ranger - on making his competitive debut for Northern Ireland in midweek. Sadly, it turned out to be a frustrating night for his side, as they fell to a late Luxembourg equaliser, having had three goals disallowed and also struck the woodwork. Ferguson, who was withdrawn with 15 minutes remaining, might yet find himself pressed into service at left-back, with Davide Santon switching to right-back, given the absence of both Raylor and Danny Simpson - though the Silver Fox does appear to see him more as an attacking than a defensive option.

Dreamboat was also in action for his country on Tuesday, and was also substituted towards the end as France beat Belarus 3-1. Thankfully, there were no more injuries to report...