Captaincy of Sheffield Wednesday became the latest career tick-off for Sean Fusire on Tuesday evening in an inclusion that came as a surprise to many.

The 21-year-old wing-back took the armband in the absence of Wednesday’s injured or rested senior players for a 4-0 EFL Trophy defeat to Accrington Stanley. The match came at the start of an identified international break fortnight and with his Zimbabwe outfit scheduled to take on Equatorial Guinea on Thursday evening, it was assumed he would be among the players to miss out on the Hillsborough clash.

Fusire has missed out on the trip to Central Africa on medical grounds as he does not have the requisite vaccinations, Owls boss Dave Challinor said, but will head out for the return leg of the AFCON qualifier in Zimbabwe on Thursday - meaning he will miss the weekend’s clash with Plymouth Argyle alongside fellow international cohort Kieran Morrison (Northern Ireland), Jordi Liongola (Burundi) and Will Grainger (Wales u19s).

The Plymouth match goes ahead after Ali Al-Hamadi was not selected for Iraw due to injury, while both Harry Gray and Yan Valery were surprise exclusions from the England youth ranks and the Tunisia squad respectively.

“They were both on long lists and then both weren't selected,” Challinor continued. “Harry got a call, Yan was uncertain as to whether he would go regardless but he didn't get the call anyway so they've obviously taken care of that.

“Sean's obviously played tonight, he's been called up by Zimbabwe so he’ll go away. I think they play tomorrow but he hasn't got the vaccinations to go to Equatorial Guinea. So the plan is he travels tomorrow for the game on Sunday and obviously Kieran and Jordi are away as well.”