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 Good's side led 3-0 at the break, but by the time our man was withdrawn, Ecuador had pulled two goals back, the second a spot kick after Aussie 'keeper Mitch Langerak was sent off.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.

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.

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.

Quote of the day

"I have always wanted to play in England. It is the league that suits me the best. When I was a kid, I was very impressed by Arsenal with all their Frenchmen: Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. I was 10 or 11 years old. That team made me dream. They won everything. I loved Thierry Henry and above all Patrick Vieira as we played in the same position. He radiated such power. He could cross the whole pitch with the ball at his feet. In midfield, he was the boss."

So it seems as though we have something to be grateful to Arsene Wenger for after all - namely, for instigating the Premier League's first French invasion and assembling the side that inspired Moussa Sissoko to want to move across the Channel.

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.

Encore un deux fois!

The door staff at St James' must be getting sick of saying "Bienvenue" - but at least the fact that the Strawberry has been renamed La Fraise will help with familiarisation. The last two days have seen us add a further two Frenchmen to our growing collection. First to arrive was Nancy left-back Massadio Haidara on Thursday, with Toulouse midfielder Moussa Sissoko putting pen to paper yesterday.

Both players fit our usual recruitment model - young and signed up on long-term contracts - though it's probably only full international Sissoko who can expect to step straight into the first team (especially with Mr T away at the African Cup of Nations). With Dreamboat back to fitness (hopefully his knock against Reading was only minor) and some genuine driving force through central midfield courtesy of Sissoko, we should hopefully have enough to see off a Villa side tired and demoralised by a second cup defeat of the week.

A grand total of five Gallic players signed in January may not necessarily have quenched our Francophilic lust, either. It's been claimed that we've bid for young Bastia midfielder Florian Thauvin, but, as with MYM, may need to trump interest from Arsenal to be successful.

I wonder whether the fact we won the race for MYM and appear to be in pole position for Thauvin has anything to do with Arsene Wenger's extraordinary public attack on our January transfer dealings? It's "unfair" that we've been able to strengthen our squad substantially, he whined, when certain teams (Man Utd, for instance) have already played and beaten the weak Newcastle Utd Mark I twice but when others (Arsenal, for instance) will now have to face Newcastle Utd Mark II. Aw, diddums. We really feel for you and your free-scoring multi-million-pound squad. Perhaps the reason Wenger is so often unable to see what's right beneath his nose is because he's got it firmly lodged in other people's business...