C.D. Leganés' three internationals all return to club football after the international break for world cup qualifying for Qatar 2022. Yoel Bárcenas, Gaku Shibasaki and Kenneth Omeruo all featured during their international fixtures and now are back to training under Asier Garitano.
Kenneth Omeruo, the Nigerian international, was the first to be back at the Butarque, having rejoined the team this Wednesday for training. Though the centre back did not play in Nigeria's first fixture, in which they lost at home to the Central African Republic (0-1), he came on for the final 16 minutes in the reverse away match to help the Super Eagles to a 2-0 win, leaving Nigeria in first place for their qualifying group with two more games to play.
Bárcenas plays all three Panamá games
Gaku Shibasaki was the next pepinero to make it home, after participating in both of Japan's qualifying fixtures. The centre midfielder featured in the starting lineup in Japan's (1-0) loss in Saudi Arabia, with 73 minutes under his belt, while he only came on for the last five minutes in Japan's (2-1) victory over Australia. The Japanese find themselves in fourth place with six points in four games, but with six matches still to go before the end of the round.
Lastly, Bárcenas had the shortest 'break' out of any pepinero international this time out, playing all three Panamanian fixtures, as was also the case in September. The winger played every minute of each qualifier, losing to El Salvador (1-0), beating the US (1-0) and again facing defeat against Canada (4-1). The Panamanians place fourth in the final eight of the CONCACAF after six games played.
