Phil Parkinson braced for gruelling international commitments of Wrexham stars

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson is confident of handling the extra strain that international breaks are putting on the Sky Bet Championship newcomers.

Parkinson has been challenged in the second tier so far by trying to gel together almost an entirely new team, with Wrexham co-owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds having invested heavily to compete at this level.

With that extra quality comes national representation, and six Wrexham players were selected for international duty in the September break, some travelling thousands of miles to play for their country.

Striker Kieffer Moore made a 7,000-mile round trip to Kazakhstan to score the winner for Wales, while Burkina Faso’s Issa Kabore played against Djibouti and Egypt in African World Cup qualifiers.

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Internationals

Kabore, signed on a season-long loan from Manchester City on transfer deadline day straight before international duty, is set to train with his new club for the first time on Friday.

Fellow wing-back Liberato Cacace is a New Zealand international and another player who is expected to be jetting around the globe during the course of the season.

Asked if players’ air miles was something he was conscious of managing this season, Parkinson said: “I think so.

“But we’re aware the higher up you go, and the quality of players you get, inevitably there’s going to be internationals in that mix.

Integrate

“We haven’t seen Issa on the training pitch yet, but he’s had two great games for his country.

“Great draw against Egypt. I watched his clips in that game and he did really well. We’ll assess him (on Friday) and integrate him as quickly as possible.

“Kieffer was back in the building today (Thursday) and the bonus for us was that he didn’t play for Wales on Tuesday because Craig (Bellamy, manager) changed the team round to look at other players (against Canada).”

Gritty

Following a long wait, Wrexham went into the international break buoyed by their first victory in the second tier for 43 years, winning 2-0 at Millwall.

Arthur Okonkwo is set to take over in goal for Saturday’s visit of QPR after Danny Ward suffered a dislocated elbow at The Den, which is expected to keep the Wales goalkeeper out for around four months.

“Millwall was a gritty performance from us and what we’ve been renowned for,” said Parkinson. “We played some good football, but there was a grit and determination.

“Traditionally, that’s a hard place to go and we stood up to it really well.”

READ MORE: Wrexham 2-0 Millwall: Phil Parkinson’s proud of his ‘gritty’ Red Dragons