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Five Everton players are away on international duty as the rest of the squad prepare to start pre-season next week.
Jordan Pickford (England), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (England) and Lucas Digne (France) have made the last 16 of the delayed Euro 2020. Whilst Richarlison (Brazil) and Yerry Mina (Colombia) have qualified for the quarter-finals of Copa America.
The club’s non-international players are expected to return to training on July 5th with the Toffees still managerless following Carlo Ancelotti’s sudden departure four weeks ago.
Pickford aiming to bring football home
The shot-stopper has played an important part in helping England progress to the last 16 of Euro 2020 after finishing top of Group D.
The Three Lions now face rivals Germany at Wembley on Tuesday as Gareth Southgate hopes to avoid a second straight Euro’s last 16 departure.
In their latest win, Pickford became the first England goalkeeper since Gordon Banks (1966) to keep three clean sheets in the group stages of a major tournament, and the 27-year-old will be hoping to continue his impressive form between the sticks.
Pickford has not conceded in his last 450 minutes of international football, and the number one will be hoping to share tournament success with Calvert-Lewin who is also in the England squad.
The striker has only made one appearance in the tournament so far, which was a rather short two-minute cameo in England’s opening match win against Croatia.
If called upon, Calvert-Lewin will be hoping to emulate his goal scoring form for Everton which saw the number nine score 21 goals in all competitions.
Ben Godfrey made his senior debut in England’s pre-Euro’s friendlies, however, the centre-back wasn’t included in the final 26-man squad.
Injury ends Digne’s tournament
After picking up a muscle injury in France’s 2-2 draw with Portugal last week, Digne looks set to be out for the rest of the European Championships.
The left-back was introduced at half-time, but he was forced off just a couple of minutes after the restart with what Didier Deschamps described as a complicated injury.
Digne played the full 90 minutes in his side’s 1-1 draw with Hungary in matchday two, but it looks certain he won’t play any more minutes.
After topping Group F, France will take on Switzerland in Bucharest on Monday as they aim to win a second successive major tournament.
Richarlison’s Copa America defence
In South America, Richarlison has been enjoying a successful start to Brazil’s Copa America defence.
Brazil have confirmed their place in the quarter-finals with a game remaining after wins against Venezuela, Peru and Colombia saw them top Group B.
Richarlison has started two of their three games, and against Peru, he came off the bench to score and assist in a 4-0 win.
The forward also started two of Brazil’s World Cup qualification matches prior to the tournament, in which he opened the scoring in a 2-0 win over Ecuador.
Mina hoping to re-write history with Colombia
Similarly to Richarlison, Mina’s Colombia have also qualified for the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The centre-back has played every minute in the tournament so far, and he is hoping to re-write history by winning what would be Colombia’s first Copa America in 10 years.
Their tournament started off with a victory but since then Colombia has drawn once and lost twice- one of those a 2-1 defeat to Peru in which Mina was unfortunate to score an own goal.
However, Everton’s No.13 was on target at the right end in Colombia’s 3-0 win over Peru in the World Cup Qualifiers ahead of the Copa America.
Mina’s Everton and Colombia teammate, James Rodriguez was ruled out of the tournament by his national team doctors who declared he had failed to overcome a calf problem.
The playmaker, who only featured once in Everton’s last six games, is rumoured to be leaving the club this summer after one season at Goodison Park.
Rodriguez recorded 15 goal contributions in all competitions this season, but following the exit of Ancelotti, it appears the Colombian’s agent, Jorge Mendes, wants his star to do the same.
Pre-season plans:
Everton’s non-international players have one final week off before they are expected to return for pre-season.
The international players will be given some extra time off before they join the rest of the squad for the Florida Cup which starts on July 25th.
Everton’s only other scheduled friendly is against Manchester United at Old Trafford the week before the season starts.
The Toffees start their Premier League campaign off at home to Southampton on August 14th.
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