International break is in the full swing. We have found out the name of another team that has qualified for the World Cup. It is Senegal, in their first appearance since debut in 2002. However, how have fared our Manchester United boys? There plenty of teams with our players in action on Friday and here is everything about it.
The Play-Off Clash Of Manchester United Players
The match of the night was the only European play-off match played on Friday. Sweden hosted Italy in a Man United clash of sorts. Victor Lindelof started for the hosts and played whole 90 minutes in a slightly surprising 1-0 win. Italy have not been great during the qualifiers and this is not a complete shock. Gianpiero Ventura’s side have atrocious against Sweden.
Part of Italy’s team was Matteo Darmian. He played as a left wing-back in Azzuri’s 3-5-2, but did not really offer great help to this struggling side. Simply, Italy have been very poor recently and their World Cup hopes hang on a thread.
England Players
England played against world champions at Wembley. There have been some bad news for Manchester United, as you could have assumed. Marouane Fellaini got injured last month in Belgium’s unimportant qualifying match. Now, it was Phil Jones that left the pitch after only 25 minutes due to an injury. He also previously made a goal-line clearance, but was unlucky sustain an injury.
None of the other three Man United players started the match alongside Jones. However, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford entered in the second half, while Ashley Young did not play.
England held Germany to a 0-0 draw in a match where they have played with plenty of new players. Gareth Southgate could not rely on seven standard first team players – Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Harry Winks, Jordan Henderson, Daniel Drinkwater, Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling. Therefore, there have been plenty of new faces. Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were among them.
It is good that Lingard and Rashford have not played too much and hopefully they will return to Manchester healthy after the match against Brazil. However, Jones’ injury will not make Jose Mourinho a happy man…
Lukaku And The Rest
Romelu Lukaku scored a brace in Belgium’s 3-3 draw against Mexico. It was a wild game and hopefully Lukaku will return to a wild goal-scoring form. His first goal was a very scrappy one. He tried to control a low cross from the right-hand side with his left thigh, but the ball bounced off of him and went straight in the goal.
Nemanja Matic did not travel to China with Serbia’s squad where his team-mates won 2-0. Adem Ljajic and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored for them.
Anthony Martial played some 20 minutes for France in their 2-0 win over Wales. The pacey winger did not make too much of an impact during the time he spent on the pitch. He was one of many substitutes that entered the game. The goals were scored by Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud.
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