00:00Now, West Ham's international stars have been making headlines delivering standout performances
00:07for their countries during the break. With key players shining on the big stage, it's
00:13a major boost for Graham Potter as the Hammers look to finish the season strongly. I spoke
00:18to James Jones of London World about the impact these performances could have, confidence
00:24being high among West Ham's internationals and that they could translate into strong
00:29form when they return to club action. With European qualification not in sight this
00:34season, Potter will be hoping his star players will bring that back in terms of next year
00:41and the London Stadium. West Ham fans will be hoping their international success is just
00:47the start of a big end to the season.
00:53So James, looking at West Ham in terms of the international players who went away, let's
00:58just start with an attacking angle on it with Gerard Bowen, Evan Ferguson, Mohamed
01:04Kudus as well. What can you tell us about each of those and their impact for their countries
01:10over this recent international break?
01:15The key thing that stood out for West Ham fans is that two players that really need
01:20an injection of confidence going into the final stage of the season both got on the
01:24score sheet for their countries. Kudus scored for Ghana and Evan Ferguson got on the score
01:29sheet for the Republic of Ireland. So from a confidence point of view, that's given West
01:35Ham fans a lot of hope that both of those players can come in, come back to West Ham
01:41after an international break and go into the last, was it, nine games of the season with
01:46a lot of confidence and really improve their form. Kudus is one that really stands out
01:50given that it was the last international break or maybe the one before that where Ghana had
01:58failed to qualify for AFCON and he took the brunt of the criticism and the blame in his
02:04country for that. There was a lot of speculation that that affected his mood and his confidence.
02:12He came back from one of those international breaks and was immediately sent off against
02:16Tottenham for scuffling with a few of their players and got a five-match ban for it. And a
02:21lot of people were like, well, maybe that's his frustrations about what had happened on
02:25international duty has kind of boiled over into his club football. Whether that's right or wrong,
02:29obviously, we don't know for sure, but that was a speculation. So now he's gone away on this
02:34international break and he's coming away having scored a goal and been influential for his
02:39country. And the hope is that that will then translate into his club football because he's
02:43not been the Mohamed Kudus that we fell in love with last season. He was mercurial last season.
02:50He was unbelievable in his first year in England and he just hasn't replicated that this year.
02:54So hopefully that will give him the boost that he needs and West Ham needs. And then Ferguson
02:59going away with Ireland and getting on the score sheet, he's not had a lot of game time since
03:03coming on loan from Brighton. No one really understands why, given that we've been crying
03:10out for a striker to play in the striker role and he's still been limited to the last five minutes
03:15of games for his first four or five appearances for the club. So hopefully, again, that gives him
03:19the confidence to and maybe even growing part of the confidence to go, OK, well, he's ready to start
03:24now. He's scored for his country. He's ready to start scoring goals for West Ham. Jared Bowen,
03:30probably a little bit disappointing in his start against Latvia, hauled off just after the hour.
03:35And then obviously he was replaced by Ebrich Eze, who then came on and scored and assisted and
03:41sort of had far more of an impact than Bowen did. I think for all three of them,
03:45I think that all three of them can look back at it and go, yeah, a productive international break
03:49for sure. And then just on Edson Alvarez, a real leader in terms of West Ham as well,
03:56but then Mexico in that stage. I mean, obviously, that's a country that are so passionate about
04:02their players in terms of where they play as well, at the club level. I mean, he had a great
04:08impact and a real positive international break as well. Yeah, I mean, he's captain of Mexico and
04:17they've won the CONCACAF Nations League for the first time. So he was there lifting the trophy
04:22the other day for Mexico. And again, for me, that's a great positive. If you've got players
04:29going away with international duty and being successful and winning trophies, especially in
04:34the middle of a season, you can't ask for much more than that because he will, like the others,
04:39he will come back, I'm sure, rejuvenated and ready to go.
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