Sunday night was a bit of a mixed one for Tottenham Hotspur centre-backs.
While Eric Dier set Belgium on their way to a 2-0 win with the most costly of misplaced passes as England’s Nations League journey come to a disappointingly premature conclusion, Joe Rodon was adding to his growing reputation in Cardiff.
David Brooks might have been the match-winner as Wales consigned Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland to a seventh game in a row without success, but it was the man at the other end who dominated much of the post-match discussion.
On this form, Gareth Bale is not the only Spurs player who will be guaranteed a starting place when the European Championships finally kick off next summer.
Because, in a hard-fought win over their neighbours from across the sea, Rodon showed the kind of leadership, positional intelligence and warrior-like spirit that convinced Tottenham to pay £11 million to sign him from Swansea City.
A game-high tally of eight clearances was matched by an 87 per cent pass completion rate.
As you might imagine, given that he learned his trade at a club once known as ‘Swansealona’, Rodon is as useful in possession as he is out of it.
One superbly-timed tackle on Adam Idah, meanwhile, was simply Ledley King-esque.
Wales have now kept four clean sheets in their last four games. That Rodon started all of them is no coincidence.
Clearly, Dier cannot afford more mistakes like that with one of Britain’s next-best defenders waiting in the wings.
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