Given Celtic's last three results, fans have possibly never been more pleased that there is an international break, merely to arrest the slide Martin O'Neill's are currently enduring. Well, it is only a break for some, with eight Celts having, so far, been in international action all across the globe, with more hoping to follow suit.
A week into this gigantic break, find out how the Hoops on duty have been getting on.
Yang Hyun-jun closes in on military service exemption
Winger Yang Hyun-jun started the season excellently, but missed both Old Firm games and the Ferencváros horror show due to early international duty. He is part of the Republic of Korea squad at the Asian Games and, crucially, if they win gold, the entire squad is exempt from fulfilling mandatory, 18 month military service.
Yang started the Taegeuk Warriors' first match, a 4-1 win over Qatar in Nagoya, but has been an unused substitute for the last two. This includes Friday's 4-0 quarter-final demolition of Vietnam. They will now face China in the semi-finals in Ōsaka on Wednesday, before both the bronze and gold medal matches take place in Toyota on Saturday, after which he can return to Glasgow.
Viljami Sinisalo
Goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo started Finland's 7-0 demolition of San Marino at Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle. Captain Lukáš Hradecký, who has 105 caps to his name, is still part of the Eagle-Owls' squad, so it is expected that the 36-year-old will be donning the gloves for more challenging matches.
Benjamin Nygren
Benjamin Nygren came off the bench for the final 14 minutes of Sweden's 2-1 win over Romania at the Nationalarenan on Friday night, having previously been a regular starter under Graham Potter. However, with Alexander Isak having since withdrawn due to injury, Nygren's importance could increase.
Kasper Høgh
Kasper Høgh has come off the bench during the final few minutes of both of Denmark's matches to date, seeing eight minutes in Oslo and then the final three of Sunday's 2-0 win over Wales. He has now featured in each of de Rød-Hvide's last six matches, having never been capped beforehand.
Auston Trusty
Auston Trusty played the full 90 minutes as the United States beat Peru 4-1 in a friendly in Orlando on Saturday. Considering Mauricio Pochettino has named a very youthful squad, featuring 13 previously uncapped players, Trusty is one of the elder statesmen, so will see plenty more action for the U.S.
Liam Scales
Liam Scales played 88 minutes of the Republic of Ireland's 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina, deployed at left-wing-back by Heimir Hallgrímsson. He was then an unused substitute against Israel in Debrecen on Sunday night.
Haissem Hassan
Haissem Hassan started Egypt's goalless draw with Angola in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying on Friday, replaced after 62 minutes in Cairo. Next up, the Pharaohs take on South Sudan in Juba.
Sebastian Tounekti
Elsewhere in AFCON qualification, Sebastian Tounekti played 69 minutes as Tunisia were held to a 1-1 draw by Uganda in Tūnis. It remains to be seen if he keeps his place in the Eagles of Carthage's lineup against Botswana in Gaborone on Tuesday.
Three Celts awaiting international debuts
Jürgen Klopp called up 44 players for his first camp as Germany manager, thereby naming two different squads to be used across their four matches. Well, after yielding only one point from two fixtures thus far, he'll be hoping the second squad performs better than the first.
Mika Baur is in that second group, hoping to earn his first-ever senior cap, either against Serbia in Munich on Thursday, or when die Mannschaft take on Greece in Thessaloniki next weekend.
Elsewhere, having scored six goals for Celtic already, Camilo Durán has earned a first-ever senior call up by Colombia. The striker was an unused substitutes as los Cafeteros drew 1-1 with Mexico in Baltimore. However, he could debut against Paraguay or Peru in the next week or so.
Lastly, with Kieran Tierney injured, there is just one Celt in Sébastien Pocognoli's Scotland squad. That is Colby Donovan, who was not even named on the bench in Ljubljana on Saturday, so it remains to see if he'll feature at some stage.
Add us as a preferred source on Google