When Mathias Jensen came off the substitute’s bench to play for Denmark last week, a couple of Club milestones were set. Mathias came on in the 67th minute of Denmark’s 3-0 win over Serbia on Tuesday to earn his 16th cap. For the next 13 minutes, he was part of a three-man Denmark midfield along with Christian Nørgaard and Christian Eriksen. Christian Eriksen was removed in the 80th minute, having scored the third goal, and for those 13 minutes three Brentford players were playing for the same international team at the same time for the first time ever.
Mathias earning his 16th cap was also a milestone for him. He earned his 15th in October but missed November’s international fixtures due to testing positive for COVID-19 and was forced to wait for that 16th. In earning it on Tuesday, he moved fourth on his own in our list of most-capped players.
Brentford players have been involved in international football for longer than The Bees have been a Football League side. Brentford’s first international was Joe Connor, who played twice for the Ireland national football team, which represented the island of Ireland from 1882 until 1950, in 1903. Tommy Shanks also represented Ireland in 1905 and it was then almost 30 years until Dai Hopkins became Brentford’s third international, representing Wales.
Brentford played in the upper echelons of the First Division in the late 1930s and nine players won international honours, including the Club’s only two England internationals to date – Billy Scott and Leslie Smith. Only Dai Hopkins made a real impact while on Brentford’s books, with his 12 caps remaining a Club Record for more than 50 years. That was broken by Malta international John Buttigieg.
John signed for Brentford in November 1988. He spent just under three years with The Bees, leaving at the end of the 1990/91 season. In that period, John made 20 international appearances. His 97 games for his country leaves him eighth on Malta’s most capped player list.
Brentford players were selected for their countries throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but no-one earned more than 12 caps until Henrik Dalsgaard and Kamohelo Mokotjo. Both joined Brentford in 2017 and were part of their international squads while with The Bees. Henrik earned 22 of his 26 Denmark caps while with The Bees, which makes him the Club’s most capped player. He was the first Brentford player to appear in a World Cup, helping Denmark reach the last 16 in Russia in 2018.
Kamohelo played 15 times for South Africa while with Brentford. He was joint-fourth on our most-capped list with Mathias until Tuesday. Mathias now closing in on the top two along with Christian Nørgaard, who sits third on our all-time list with 17 caps.
Kamohelo, along with Julian Jeanvier for Guinea, played in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. He is one of only a few Brentford players - a list that also included Mathias, Christian Nørgaard, Henrik, Marcus Forss, Halil DerviÅŸoÄŸlu and Frank Onyeka - to have appeared in an international tournament. Denmark will play at least nine more games in 2022 so both Christian Nørgaard and Mathias have the chance to break the record.