Lino Sousa kicked off Arsenal’s international break by helping the England u19s keep a clean sheet in their opening u19 Euro qualifier on Wednesday.

Arsenal will have plenty of players in action over the international break, with 15 senior internationals set for match action and a number of youth players called up as well.

That initially included five players across the England u17s to u21s, but Amario Cozier-Duberry and Reuell Walters have since pulled out.

Charlie Patino, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, and Lino Sousa all remain on international duty, with Patino and Norton-Cuffy set to play their first UEFA u21 European Championship qualifer of the break on Thursday night.

But it was Sousa who kicked things off on Wednesday, playing for the England u19s against Montenegro.

The u19 European Championships have two rounds of qualifiers, and this is the first of those two.

All the competing teams are split up across 13 groups of four, playing against each other team in their group once. The top two teams in every group guarantee qualification to the next round.

The best third-placed team across all 13 groups will also progress, but with 12 rivals for that one spot, it’s certainly not advisable to pin your hopes on qualifying in third.

All of England’s three qualifiers will be played over the current international break, hence why the first game has already taken place. They need to squeeze all three fixtures into just seven days.

England are in a group with Austria, Wales, and group stage hosts Montenegro, and they took on the third of that trio on Wednesday afternoon.

Arsenal’s Sousa started the match, and he ended up playing the full 90 minutes as the England u19s kept a clean sheet. But despite having a shot saved at the other end, Sousa, couldn’t help his side to break the deadlock, and the match finished 0-0.

It was a frustrating result for the side, who would have hoped to get off to a winning start before tricky fixtures against Wales and Austria.

The good news is that Wales and Austria also drew their game 0-0, so with identical results, England currently top the group on their disciplinary record.

England will need to start winning now though, with the game against Wales on Saturday and then the group decider against Austria on Tuesday.