Antonin Kinsky earned his first senior cap for Czech Republic in their 3-1 defeat in Spain, while Andy Robertson captained Scotland to a 2-0 victory in North Macedonia for what was his 100th appearance for his country.
Goalkeeper ‘Toni’, who has been a regular in the younger age groups for Czech Republic in recent years, was handed his first opportunity at senior level from the start in his country’s UEFA Nations League visit to the world champions.
Goals from Lamine Yamal and Rodri put the hosts in command before Jiri Slama pulled one back, only for Ladislav Krejci to pick up a red card to reduce the visitors to 10 men. Mikel Merino rounded off the scoring for Spain late on as Toni completed the full 90.
Left-back ‘Robbo’ also put in a full shift as he captained Scotland to their first victory under new Head Coach Sebastien Pocognoli. Becoming only the second man to win a century of caps for Scotland, he almost marked the occasion with a goal in the opening stages but was denied by a superb save from Stole Dimitrievski.
However, Kieron Bowie’s goal and John McGinn’s penalty secured the points, in spite of the late dismissal of Scott McKenna.
Robertson is rapidly closing in on Sir Kenny Dalglish’s all-time total of 102 caps for Scotland – a record he looks set to break by the end of the year.
Elsewhere, as previously reported, Mathys Tel came off the bench to score the winning goal for France Under-21s in their 3-2 home victory over Luxembourg, a result which sealed their spot at the European Under-21 Championship finals next summer.
On-loan Yang Min-Hyeok started and played 66 minutes as South Korea Under-23s beat Japan 1-0 to win gold in the Asian Games final while another loanee, Mikey Moore, helped England Under-20s to a 2-1 victory against Germany in Spain, setting up the first goal before being substituted in stoppage time.
Oscar Sandiford again played 90 minutes for England Under-18s as they lost 2-0 to Spain in the final of the UEFA Friendship Cup in Switzerland. Phoenix Offiah was an unused substitute. Oliver Salter’s Wales Under-18s, meanwhile, lost 3-2 away to Finland in a friendly, the winger completing 78 minutes after starting for the visitors.