West Brom: Tony Mowbray hoping for good news on the international front
It will be a case of Tony Mowbray keeping his fingers crossed that all of West Bromwich Albion’s international players return to the fold not just physically in good shape, but also mentally as well.
Eight of Mowbray’s squad were involved in internationals at the weekend, with more games coming up in midweek, and while the likes of Chris Brunt experienced the euphoric highs of Northern Ireland’s excellent 3-2 win over Poland, team-mate Abdoulaye Meite’s return from injury for Ivory Coast was tainted by tragedy as 22 people were killed in a crowd surge.
Yesterday, Mowbray had not spoken to Meite, who has missed the last two Albion games because of the combination of a hamstring injury and illness, but he will evaluate how mentally affected his defender is after events in Abidjan.
Meite played 86 minutes of Ivory Coast’s 5-0 win over Malawi alongside Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, and Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, but the game was marred when a stampede, allegedly caused by ticketless fans after the police had tried to control the crowd with tear gas, left 19 dead and 132 injured according to the latest reports.
While Mowbray was pleased Meite had proven his fitness, he was obviously concerned about the events in the Houphouet-Boigny Stadium and the affect he might have on his player.
“I’ve not had a chance to speak to him yet but it’s always horrific when people are killed like this,” said Mowbray.
“Injury-wise, Abou’s been touch and go for a while. The main reason he didn’t play in the last game was more due to illness than his injury. He got to that delicate stage where he was probably fit enough to play but was ill.
“We allowed him to go and he was involved for a fair amount of the game.”
