Tuesday nights round of international matches involved eleven Manchester United players, nine in Euro 2012 qualifiers and two in friendlies. There were no injuries of any note reported leaving Sir Alex Ferguson with a full contingent of players to choose from for Saturdays visit of West Bromwich Albion. This is how their performances were seen by various outlets.
England v Montenegro 0-0…Rio Ferdinand – A shaky start and was fortunate to escape a first-half booking for a rash tackle on Milorad Pekovic. Settled as the game unfolded although his lack of football, particularly at international level, was occasionally evident. Still vital for England but clearly now needs a lengthy sequence of games…Wayne Rooney – Clearly out of form and, with Montenegro so well organised, was forced to drop deeper and deeper to find the ball. His two best chances were well saved by Mladen Bozovic and the frustration manifested itself with a deserved yellow card for a trip on Elsad Zverotic.
Scotland v Spain 2-3…Darren Fletcher – Much more energetic and effective last night and bust a gut to provide Morrison’s chance. Not afraid to do the digging when we didn’t have the ball and one of his best Scotland displays.
Faroe Island v Northern Ireland 1-1…Jonny Evans – Didn’t have a lot of defending to do, but let himself down by missing a number of relatively easy chances when well placed…Corry Evans (On 83m) – Not on long enough to provide any spark or repeat his heroics in Slovenia
Slovakia v Ireland 1-1…John O’Shea – Good first half that saw him venture forward a lot more than usual. Lost confidence – like everyone else – in the second half…Darron Gibson – Was delighted when he came on for Green yet made little or no impact. A luxury player.
Iceland v Portugal 1-3…Nani – Strangely out of sorts. Save a lovely dribble and pass to set up an Almeida chance in the first half, almost everything Nani tried failed to come off, and it was surprising he was not substituted earlier. After his heroics at the Estadio do Dragao Nani can be forgiven for having “a bad day at the office”
Italy v Serbia – Game abandoned…Nemanja Vidic – Disturbances among the travelling Serbian supporters meant that Italy’s clash was abandoned. The match lasted just eight minutes before it was halted.
Mexico v Venezuela 2-2 (Friendly)…Javier Hernandez – Mexico came from behind twice to grind out a 2-2 draw in an international friendly with Venezuela. Chicharito found the net with a close range header in the first half to make it 1-1, his 12th goal in 21 international appearances.
South Korea v Japan 0-0 (Friendly)…Park Ji Sung – missed the scoreless draw due to a minor knee injury.
So we’re now back into the real football business…at least until March next year
Was the weekend break beneficial for United in terms of getting niggling injuries cleared up?
I have to say that I look forward to international breaks less and less as the years go on. It just doesn’t have the same appeal or excitement of the premiership. I also think it may serve Ferdinand well to retire from international football. He has been plagued with injuries recently and focusing purely on United could give him an extra couple of years. I know he said he wouldn’t do it but it may be the right call.