How 4 Leeds United stars fared on international duty with early goal, close penalty call and squad absence
There was plenty of Leeds United involvement on the international stage last night.
Leeds United’s Welsh trio kicked off their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Kazakhstan on Saturday evening, with Dan James on the scoresheet.
James opened the scoring for Wales inside nine minutes, capitalising on a scruffy moment inside the Kazakhstan box before a deflected shot looped over goalkeeper Aleksandr Zarutskiy. But a frustrating first-half saw the visitors win a penalty and despite Karl Darlow’s best efforts, Askhat Tagybergen’s spot-kick trickled in.
A Wales side also including Joe Rodon at centre-back regrouped after half-time as goals from Ben Davies and Rabbi Matondo ensured Craig Bellamy’s side got off to a perfect start in their World Cup qualifying campaign. Rodon and Darlow both played the full game, with opening goalscorer James coming off on 86 minutes.
Dan James on Wales’ World Cup qualifying win
"We spoke all week about getting off to a good start and that's what we did tonight,” Leeds winger James told BBC Match of the Day Wales after full-time. "I'm delighted. It's always nice to get on the scoresheet. We were a bit unfortunate with the penalty but we got stuck in there.
“Second-half we came out and scored a great set-piece, in international football set-pieces are really important and it's something we've been practising. He [Bellamy] told us at half-time to keep digging in. There were moments in the first-half where we didn't control the game as much as we wanted to, but in the second-half we controlled it much more.
"It's so important to get the win tonight and push on for Tuesday. We've got a lot of positives to take from tonight, it's going to be a really tough game on Tuesday going to North Macedonia but it's one we're really looking forward to"
Solomon stars while Firpo absent
Like James, Leeds’ other in-form winger helped his side win their first World Cup qualifying clash as Manor Solomon grabbed an assist in Israel’s 2-1 win over Estonia. The Tottenham Hotspur loanee set up right-back and captain Eli Dasa to net a 75th-minute winner in Hungary.
Solomon started and got 89 minutes under his belt, coming off at a similar time to James in Wales. There was no sign either had picked up any kind of issue and so both will likely play again during the week.
One Leeds player who didn’t feature in the early hours of yesterday morning was Junior Firpo, with reports from of his omission proving to be true. The Dominican Republic drew the first of their two friendlies with Puerto Rico 2-2 and Firpo is expected to feature in the second meeting next week.
The defender and fellow big name Mariano Diaz both sat out the draw, with both expected to come back in next week - a suggestion his absence was not injury-related. It is unclear if Leeds and the Dominican Republic came to some kind of arrangement surrounding the 28-year-old’s minutes.
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