International Round-up (6th-8th October)

Football took a break on the weekend with a range of international matches being held. Qualifiers for the 2008 European Championships and African Cup of Nations, 2007 UEFA U21 Championships as well as several international friendlies across the globe were held. Just like in the World Cup Arsenal was heavily involved, with 17 players linking up with their countries on the weekend.

On Friday Theo Walcott and Justin Hoyte were apart of the England U21 team that defeated Germany U21 in the first leg of their 2007 UEFA U21 Championships play-off at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, with Wigan fullback Leighton Baines scoring the deciding goal. Again no Arsenal players were involved with the senior England team, although Ashley Cole had an amusingly poor performance along with the rest of his Chelsea mates as England were held by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at Old Trafford.

Arsenal's two Brazilians were in the squad for Seleção's friendly against Kuwait in Kuwait City. Julio Baptista found himself on the substitutes bench with team-mate Gilberto Silva, who was substituted on for Mineiro 13 minutes from time. Brazil ran out comfortable 4-0 winners with goals from Rafael Sobis, Robinho, Kaká and a player Arsenal goes head-to-head with soon, CSKA Moscow's Daniel Carvalho.

In another friendly Jens Lehmann sat on the bench as Timo Hildebrand deputised for him in goal against Georgia in an international friendly in Rostock. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Ballack scored the two German goals in their victory over the Georgians.

The main focus of this latest international break focused on the 2008 European Championships qualifiers, with Arsenal heavily represented across the board including one head-to-head contest as Francesc Fabregas met Freddie Ljungberg in Stockholm.

William Gallas withdrew from the French team before their game in Glasgow against Scotland, clearly still suffering from his hamstring injury that he picked up in the Champions League victory over FC Porto. It is unknown whether Gallas will take part in the midweek match against the Faroe Islands in Paris.

Thierry Henry started and finished the match. The skipper had a couple of really good chances to win it for France, including a free-kick that hit the bar and a point blank header that Craig Gordon saved. Once again Henry was wasted as another French coach insisted on keeping him in central and not allowing him to play his natural game.

Ultimately the Scots would win, winning 1-0 from a Gary Caldwell header off a Hartley corner.

In Liberec Tomas Rosicky captained the Czech Republic out as they dismantled the hapless San Marino team 7-0. Rosicky, amazingly, was not the assist man for any of the seven Czech goals, and was substituted in the 65th minute for Monaco midfielder Jaroslav Plašil.

Alexander Hleb, so often the main man for Belarus, lost 3-1 to Romania in Bucharest. It was still a good night for the Arsenal #13, as he set up the Belarussians only goal, passing to Sergei Kornilenko. Hleb's younger brother, Vyacheslav, also saw game-time for the Belarussians.

Sweden enjoyed a third successive victory in Freddie Ljungberg's new role as captain, as the Swedes defeated Spain 2-0 in Stockholm. Francesc Fabregas was in the Spain starting team, unusually playing wide on the left of midfield, but was taken off at half time for Barcelona's Andres Iniesta.

In neighbouring Denmark Nicklas Bendtner came off the bench in the 73rd minute for Niclas Jensen. Unfortunately the big striker could not add to his international tally as the Danes were held by Northern Ireland in a 0-0 draw.

A rain soaked pitch in Sofia welcomed the Netherlands and Robin van Persie. It looked like a bad evening for Oranje when Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt was taken off injured minutes after Martin Petrov had given the lead to Hristo Stoitchkov's men, but with twenty eight minutes to go van Persie levelled it for Holland with a close-range header. It finished 1-1.

2008 African Cup of Nations qualifiers saw three Arsenal players involved. Emmanuel Adebayor captained Togo against Mali in Bamako, the Togolese losing 1-0 after a Dramane Traore goal won it for the Malians.

The other African Arsenal action saw Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Eboue line-up for Côte d'Ivoire against Gabon in Abidjan, in a shortened group after Djibouti withdrew from the competition. The Arsenal #5 got the first goal for Les Elephants in their 5-0 hammering of Gabon. Arouna Koné got a hat-trick and Arouna Dindane scored the other goal as the Ivorians soared to the top of their group table after the first round of games.

So far there has been no news of any injuries to Arsenal players while they have been away with their countries.

More international action sees fourteen Arsenal players involved on Tuesday and Wednesday. The players involved are:

Julio Baptista & Gilberto Silva: Brazil vs. Ecuador, 10/10 at 20:05 (friendly in neutral venue)
Nicklas Bendtner: Liechtenstein vs. Denmark, 11/10 at 19:15BST
Johan Djourou: Switzerland vs. Austria, 11/10 at 19:30BST (friendly)
Francesc Fabregas: Spain vs. Argentina, 11/10 at 20:00BST (friendly)
William Gallas & Thierry Henry: France vs. Faroe Islands, 11/10 at 20:00BST
Alexander Hleb: Belarus vs. Slovenia, 11/10 at 17:00BST
Jens Lehmann: Slovakia vs. Germany, 11/10 at 19:45BST
Freddie Ljungberg: Iceland vs. Sweden, 11/10 at 19:05BST
Mart Poom: Estonia vs. Russia, 11/10 at 14:00BST
Tomas Rosicky: Republic of Ireland vs. Czech Republic, 11/10 at 19:30BST
Robin van Persie: Netherlands vs. Albania, 11/10 at 19:30BST
Theo Walcott & Justin Hoyte: Germany U21 vs. England U21, 10/10 at 19:15BST

User Comments

Jesper

Posted on 9 Oct, 2006 at 01:42 PM - Reply

Nice summary. Thumbs up!

Apparently N. Bendtner had a injury in Denmark's game against N. Ireland - He was able to play to the end though. It looks like he will not be fit for game Wednesday against Lichtenstein.

Jan

Posted on 9 Oct, 2006 at 09:18 AM - Reply

FYI, Bendtner injured his left knee on Saturday so won't be playing on Wednesday.

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