Blackburn Rovers trio earn international recognition after recalls
Yuki Ohashi has joined Balazs Toth and Kirsti Montgomery in earning a call-up for his national team's June fixtures.
Rovers had no first-team players away with their countries in the March international break. However, that has changed this time around with Ohashi and Toth recalled by Japan and Hungary, respectively.
Both were central to Rovers' late flurry of wins at the end of the season. Ohashi finished as the club's top-scorer, netting on the final day at Sheffield United whilst Toth started the last six league matches in which Valerien Ismael's side were unbeaten.
Japan travel to face Australia on June 5 before hosting Indonesia five days later on June 10. Both games are World Cup qualifying matches, with Japan already qualified in first place with 20 points from eight games.
READ MORE:
Ohashi has been called up twice previously but is still looking to add to his solitary cap and score his maiden goal. Rovers will be keen for the forward to rest this summer having played a season and a half of football without a break.
Toth will be hoping his form for Rovers can earn him a second cap for Hungary. First up, it's a clash against former head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson with Sweden on Friday, June 6.
That is followed by a trip to Mardakan, for their second and final friendly of the camp against Azerbaijan, with the test to be played at the Dalga Arena.
Montgomery has been rewarded for his breakthrough end to the season with Rovers by earning his first Scotland Under-20 call-up.
Scot Gemmill's side face Slovakia on Friday, May 23, in a match that will serve as preparation for the Under-21 European qualifiers which begin in September.
Having previously represented Scotland at Under-16 level, this latest call-up is Montgomery's first involvement at Under-20 level.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UEFA monitoring storms which could affect Germany-Portugal semifinal in Nations League
A flag with Ronaldo of Portugal waves in front of the town hall in Munich, Germany, ahead of the Nations League Finals, starting tomorrow with Germany against Portugal, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) MUNICH (AP) — UEFA says the Nations League semifinal between Germany and Portugal is still scheduled to go ahead Wednesday despite warnings of possible storms in Munich. European soccer's governing body said it 'continues to monitor the meteorological situation closely along with the relevant local authorities' and recommended that fans heading to the game should allow for extra travel time and dress appropriately. Advertisement 'The match is planned to go ahead as scheduled and any updates will be communicated to ticket holders directly,' UEFA said. The German national team's account on X issued a similar warning to fans to allow plenty of time for travel to the stadium and to bring raincoats, ponchos or small umbrellas because of the risk of 'adverse weather conditions.' Germany's national weather service has warned of the risk of storms, high winds and hail late Wednesday in the state of Bavaria, where Munich is the capital. France plays Spain in the other semifinal in Stuttgart on Thursday. ___ AP soccer:
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘It's Harry's team now': Brook makes instant impact in England's new era
It is just three games, one series, played at home against one of the few major cricketing nations ranked even lower than them. But if it would be unwise to get carried away with England's clean sweep of West Indies there was no mistaking what we witnessed along the way: green shoots, tender and fragile but undeniable, desperately needed signs of renewal after a period of atrophy. The genesis of a new team, under fresh leadership, with fresh emphases and impetus. It has been overdue. From the miseries of the last World Cup to the indignity of this year's Champions Trophy, England's recent 50-over record is dire. Between the start of that World Cup and this summer they played 26 games and won only seven, along the way playing bilateral series against West Indies, Australia, West Indies again and India and losing them all. Advertisement Related: Jamie Smith's rapid response to West Indies fireworks sets up ODI sweep for England After Matthew Mott was appointed coach and Jos Buttler took over the captaincy in the middle of 2022 results nosedived: even Buttler's best year in the job, 2023, was worse than any of the seven his predecessor, Eoin Morgan, spent in charge, and of his last 15 games England won only three. Mott left last July and has since been replaced by Brendon McCullum, while Buttler stepped down in February saying he had 'just reached the end of the road'. His team looked knackered and almost as miserable as those who had to watch them. Not any more. 'It's a new era,' Harry Brook said after the first game at Edgbaston last week. 'We're trying to forget about the past.' And the sooner that happens the better. There are still long-term relics of the last era in Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Buttler himself, the only players to feature in this series with as many as 30 ODI appearances (and between them that trio has 522). Meanwhile players about whom Buttler and Mott never seemed able to make up their minds have been backed. Advertisement The big call is the promotion of Jamie Smith, who after his debut played 10 of 17 games under Buttler and whose record as opener is short and unexceptional. The decision left even the player himself 'a little bit surprised' but his 28-ball 64 at the Oval on Tuesday, in just his third innings there, showed his potential and the position is his for the foreseeable future. 'He's going to have a good go at it at the top in one-day cricket,' Brook says. Will Jacks, a player more used to opening, has dropped down the order to No 7. Despite his obvious ability after his debut in 2023 Jacks played just 15 of England's next 35 games and when they awarded their central contracts that year was not only snubbed but found out about it 'on Twitter like everyone else'. Now he has been told to make himself at home. 'This is Harry's team now,' Jacks said. 'It's just about bringing a lot of energy. It's a fresh start.' But if there is a degree of novelty about the team selection, the real innovations have been in the field. Brook is a young captain at 26, and quite inexperienced with just 29 ODIs, and 44 50-over games in all, to his name, but he is clearly confident in his judgments. The results look certain to be entertaining and have the potential, glimpsed over the past few days, to also be successful. He likes to position himself near the bowler – the stopclocks permanently adopted last year make it hard for a captain to be anywhere else while effectively communicating, and England still received two time warnings in Tuesday's third game – but at times he fielded not at a traditional mid-on or mid-off but behind the bowler's arm. He likes to leave gaps that batters can exploit, but not in the places they are used to finding them. Advertisement 'I like to try and get a little bit funky with fields and try to mix it up a bit, get the batters thinking,' Brook said. 'He might not always be the most intelligent away from cricket but he understands the game exceptionally well,' Root said affectionately (and it is telling too that Root, in Cardiff, and Buttler, with a free-hitting cameo at the Oval, produced their best batting displays in the format for some time). 'I think that's what will make him a really good leader. He might see the game slightly differently, and he might do things differently, but it asks different questions of a batter. There was a phase in the game where we had quite unusual fields, but they found it hard to rotate. It built pressure. It led to wickets.' ODIs are often seen as something of an afterthought, and the next serious test in the format is a World Cup in late 2027. Attention now switches to T20s, with three games against West Indies starting in Durham on Friday and a World Cup looming next February. For Brook it is another fresh and unfamiliar challenge but England's new captain has already inspired that most vital of all sporting commodities: hope.

Associated Press
44 minutes ago
- Associated Press
UEFA monitoring storms which could affect Germany-Portugal semifinal in Nations League
MUNICH (AP) — UEFA says the Nations League semifinal between Germany and Portugal is still scheduled to go ahead Wednesday despite warnings of possible storms in Munich. European soccer's governing body said it 'continues to monitor the meteorological situation closely along with the relevant local authorities' and recommended that fans heading to the game should allow for extra travel time and dress appropriately. 'The match is planned to go ahead as scheduled and any updates will be communicated to ticket holders directly,' UEFA said. The German national team's account on X issued a similar warning to fans to allow plenty of time for travel to the stadium and to bring raincoats, ponchos or small umbrellas because of the risk of 'adverse weather conditions.' Germany's national weather service has warned of the risk of storms, high winds and hail late Wednesday in the state of Bavaria, where Munich is the capital. France plays Spain in the other semifinal in Stuttgart on Thursday. ___ AP soccer: