Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler says his South American players will benefit from playing in big games for their countries before the FA Cup quarter-final at home to Nottingham Forest.
Forward Joao Pedro (Brazil), left-back Pervis Estupinan (Ecuador) and midfielder Diego Gomez (Paraguay) are set to be involved in World Cup qualifiers in the build-up to Forest’s visit to the Amex Stadium on March 29 (kick-off 5.15pm).
Brazil visit Argentina, Ecuador are away to Chile and Paraguay go to Colombia in games played in the early hours of the morning UK time on March 26. Hurzeler has dismissed fears about match and travel fatigue affecting three of his starters in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Manchester City.
“They are very experienced with these situations,” said Hurzeler, speaking to The Athletic before the game at City in which Estupinan scored one of Brighton’s equalisers from a free-kick.
“It’s not the first time that they have this situation and therefore I am quite convinced and confident that they will come back in good shape with a good mindset.
“Hopefully, all of their games will be positive, especially for the South American players. Whenever I talk with them about their national team, you can really feel the passion and the honour they have inside of them to play for their country.
“I see it more in a positive way that this will give them another boost to come back with hopefully a big victory for Diego, for Pervis and for Joao, and then they can help us for the final third of the season, so I am quite confident and convinced that this won’t have a big impact in a negative way. More the opposite, I think it will help us in a positive way.”
Thirteen members of the squad on duty against City have been selected by their countries for World Cup qualifiers, Nations League or friendly fixtures at senior and under-21 level. Captain Lewis Dunk (ribs), Joel Veltman (foot) and Matt O’Riley (knee) will use the international break to try to be ready for the Forest tie after injury lay-offs ranging between three and six matches.
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