Luke Thomas

Thomas Part Of England Under-21s' Big Win

Luke Thomas celebrated his birthday by featuring as an important component in England Under-21s' 5-0 win away to Kosovo Under-21s, one of several Leicester City players to see international action on Friday.
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- Luke Thomas started for England Under-21s on his 21st birthday and recorded a big away win
- Kasper Schmeichel appeared for Denmark as they were beaten by Croatia in the UEFA Nations League

- Daniel Amartey was in the XI as Ghana lost 4-1 to Japan in Kobe
- Ben Nelson, Kian Pennant and Sammy Braybrooke all featured as England Under-18s beat Wales Under-18s

Academy graduate Thomas turned 21 on Friday, and on his big day he was named in the starting line-up for the Young Lions as they came up against Kosovo Under-21s.

Thomas and his team-mates made light work of their UEFA Under-21 European Championships qualifier, winning by five clear goals in Pristina. Keane Lewis-Potter got the scoring started in the second minute, with Anthony Gordon netting before the break ahead of Cameron Archer's second-half brace.

Thomas played a major role in the fifth and final goal of the evening, his dangerous cross resulting in an own goal scored by Ilir Krasniqi. England Under-21s are next up against Slovenia Under-21s on Monday (7:45pm kick-off).

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Denmark National Team
Denmark National Team

Kasper Schmeichel lines up with Denmark ahead of their fixture against Croatia.

Denmark, though, were unable to continue their winning start in the UEFA Nations League, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia in Copenhagen.

Kasper Schmeichel was named in the starting XI for the fixture, though was beaten by Mario Pasalic's shot in the 69th minute. Substitute Jonas Wind appeared to have equalised for the home side late on, only for his goal to be overturned by VAR.

Fellow City players Jannik Vestergaard and Daniel Iversen were unused substitutes in the match. The Danes go again on Monday when they host Austria back at Parken Stadium (7:45pm kick-off).

Elsewhere, Daniel Amartey - winning his 42nd international cap - started for Ghana as they played in the 2022 Kirin Cup Soccer competition against Japan in Kobe, though his side fell to a 4-1 defeat to bow out of the tournament at the first hurdle.

Miki Yamane opened the scoring inside half an hour at Noevir Stadium, with Jordan Ayew of Crystal Palace levelling matters just ahead of the interval - seconds before Kaoru Mitoma reinstated Japan's lead.

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Daniel Amartey
Daniel Amartey

Daniel Amartey in action for Ghana in their match against Japan in Kobe.

The Black Stars were then hit further after the restart, as goals from Takefusa Kubo and Daizen Maeda completed the scoring for the Samurai Blue. The tournament hosts will play Tunisia in the final of the competition, while Ghana are set to take on Chile on Tuesday in the third-place play-off.

In Zagreb, Ben Nelson was in the line-up and played 80 minutes for England Under-18s against Wales Under-18s, one of the three Foxes involved in the second game of the four nations tournament ongoing in Croatia.

The game ended in a 2-0 win for England, with Kian Pennant coming on after 66 minutes and Sammy Braybrooke appearing in the fixture three minutes later. The Young Lions were victorious courtesy of strikes from Jude Soonsup-Bell and Sonny Perkins.

England Under-18s next face hosts Croatia on Monday (3pm kick-off).

For a comprehensive overview of the City players in international action throughout June, visit LCFC.com/internationals.

All times BST.

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