Manchester United are currently off duty, as the international break has took the place of the club football for this weekend. The players are all around the world right now, playing with their national sides and plenty of United players were in action on Friday night.
A total of six players took part in these friendly matches, playing with a mixed success. Some did well, some even scored, while some others did not excel. Here is how Manchester United players fared on international duty.
Netherlands 0-1 England
Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford started on Friday night for Gareth Southgate’s England. The match in Amsterdam was decided in second half, when Lingard scored the only goal of the match.
England played in a 3-4-3 formation, with Rashford being the focal point of attack, while Lingard mostly cut in from the left flank. Both of them played 68 minutes, before Jamie Vardy and Dele Alli took their places on the pitch. However, Ashley Young was in action as well. The 32-year old entered the game after 71 minutes, substituting Danny Rose at left wingback position.
Germany 1-1 Spain
The match in Berlin was probably the one with the highest quality of football this Friday. The last two World Cup winners and the Euro 2008 finalists played a very good game and David De Gea was the only Manchester United player on the pitch.
The goalkeeper had a good game in overall, playing for the whole 90 minutes. Spain’s 4-3-3 was once again showing why they can be amongst the favourites to win the World Cup. Great depth and pure quality they have in their squad mean that Julien Lopetegui’s team could actually do what they did in 2010. Every World Cup winner usually has a great goalkeeper on their team and with De Gea in goal, Spain have that box ticked.
Morocco 2-1 Serbia
Nemanja Matic played in central midfield for Serbia in Turin, as they lost 2-1 to one of the most impressive qualifiers from Africa. The only goal for Serbia was scored by Southampton’s Dusan Tadic, while Matic himself did not have a good game.
He played as a sole holding midfielder in a very attacking-minded 4-3-3, with wingers-converted-midfielders Adem Ljajic and Andrija Zivkovic playing alongside him in the centre of the park. Matic was mostly lost throughout the game and was substituted after 67 minutes.
Scotland 0-1 Costa Rica
Scott McTominay made his Scotland debut on Friday, as they lost 1-0 to Costa Rica. The CONCACAF side will be playing at the World Cup – against Serbia, precisely – and they delivered what was expected of them. However, what is more important is that McTominay is slowly becoming a full international who could be a very important player in Scotland’s quest of reaching the Euro 2020.
The youngster after 58 minutes, but it was good seeing him at all playing for his national team. It means that Jose Mourinho’s decision to play him more often than anyone expected is paying dividends and hopefully this will make Scott even more eager to improve in the future.
Argentina 2-0 Italy
Matteo Darmian did not play for Italy in their easy loss to 2014 World Cup runners-up.
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