Portsmouth talent benched in 1-0 defeat as World Cup hopes suffer blow
Four of John Mousinho’s squad are currently away on international duty.
The second international break of the season is well underway, with four of John Mousinho’s squad currently away in their respective camps.
Before then, though, Terry Devlin, Hayden Matthews, Minhyeok Yang and Makenzie Kirk will all return to Fratton Park following their time away with their respective national teams.
For Devlin, it has been a frustrating week away with Northern Ireland, having failed to feature in any of their two World Cup qualifiers.
The hugely popular Pompey defender was left out of Michael O’Neill’s squad completely for Friday’s 2-0 triumph over Slovakia at Windsor Park.
And the 21-year-old’s disappointment continued on Monday evening, despite being recalled to the 23-man side to face Germany.
The versatile operator was an unused substitute for the 1-0 defeat to Julian Naglesmann’s side, with Newcastle United striker Nick Woltemade’s first-half effort the difference.
The loss comes as a major blow to Northern Ireland’s World Cup automatic qualification hopes, who now sit third in Group A, three points behind both Germany and Slovakia.
Head coach O’Neill said after the defeat: ‘We're disappointed and it's a sore loss. I thought in the first half we lacked a bit of belief with the ball. Germany forced their physicality on top of us, and it was difficult for us to get any rhythm in the game.
‘The disallowed goal would have helped us at that point, but it was offside. We shouldn't be offside in that situation so that's an error on our part. It comes off the player's shoulder and ends up in our net.
‘That was the disappointing thing. But in the second half we were terrific. We just couldn't force an equaliser in the end.
‘It was a game that was going to be decided by something special or a bit of a freak goal - which is ultimately how it was decided.’
Terry Devlin’s Northern Ireland success so far
It was a frustrating time away on international duty for Devlin, who failed to register a single minute of action during the latest camp.
Having impressed at youth level for the Green and White Army, the Fratton favourite made his senior debut in a 1-1 draw against Switzerland in March before going on to register his first start for his national side against Sweden five days’ later.
Since then, the Pompey talent has received a call up for all three of the following senior camps under O’Neill but has struggled for game time, amassing just one outing during that time.
Devlin, who has impressed for Mousinho’s men in the Championship once again this term, will be hoping to earn another call-up during next month’s international break, when Northern Ireland round off their World Cup qualifiers with matches against Slovakia and Luxemburg.
Pompey’s international representatives
Meanwhile, the Blues’ three other international representatives still have the chance to feature for their country before returning to PO4.
Matthews could also be in action tonight as the Socceroos take on the USA in an international friendly, which gets underway at 2am.