This Weekend's InternationalGames
Monday, 08 September 08, 02:00 AM · Comments (10)
There were mixed fortunes for Barça players in this weekend's round of World Cup qualifying matches. Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta all played 90 minutes in Spain's 1-0 win over Bosnia but Bojan Krkic was not used and so will have to wait for his international debut.
France went down 3-1 in Austria with Thierry Henry playing the 90 minutes. Eric Abidal was suspended for the game.
Eidur Gudjohnsen was the only Barça player to score this weekend, grabbing Iceland's second in a 2-2 draw in Norway.
Alexander Hleb played the whole game for Belarus who lost 1-0 in Ukraine.
Better luck for Rafa Marquez as Mexico comfortably beat Jamaica 3-0. Marquez played all 90 minutes.
Argentina could do no better than a 1-1 draw against Paraguay. An own goal from Real Madrid defender Heinze put Paraguay in front. Argentina's equalizer was set up by Leo Messi for Kun Aguero to score. Messi played the entire game and according to reports was Argentina's most dangerous forward.
Uruguay won 0-1 in Columbia, but Barça defender Martin Caceres spent the game sitting on the subs bench.
Toure Yaya was subbed off in injury time after playing in Ivory Coast's 1-1 draw in Mozambique.
Seydou Keita played in Mali's 1-0 defeat in Congo.
Finally, Pedro made his debut for Spain's under-21 team coming on as a substitute near the end of the game with Kazakhstan. Gerard Pique played 90 minutes in the same game which Spain won 2-0.
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
I saw Gudjohnsen's goal against Norway. A fantastic taken free kick just outside the box. Lets hope that Eidur will show something like that with Barca. We need a goal like that !!
When can i see goal of Gudjohnsen?
Hey Tupac, I thought you were dead!? 
Anyway at Rojadirecta.com's forum you can see resumes of most of the games. Here is the Iceland game:
LINK
France will never with anything with Domenech in charge. Hes abismal to be nice to him, he plays the wrong system, doesnt know how to pick any sort of defence and plays people who are too old.
No Benzema up front, usually he plays Eric Abidal instead of Evra or Clichy which I cannot fathom out as Abidal is both poor attacking and defending, plays two DM's against weak teams and hoofs the ball in the air when Henry never wins airial challenges and Gouvou is like 5ft 5". He should have been sacked after the World-Cup, yes he stays even though Italy coach lost his job even though they lost to an excellent, eventual winners, team in teh QF. How he is in a job is beyond me.
Domenech is on a very short leash. I hope that France wins this wednesday, otherwise he will be toast. I think that France needs to let go of some their older players (ie.Henry). Maybe then he can focus on being a better player for Barcelona.
I was a little bit disappointed at Spain's performance in front of goal. Andres Iniesta could have scored at least 2 goals. I am not sure if it is a focus issue or a confidence problem with him. He is plenty skillful but that last shot or touch seem to always let him down. I am looking forward to the game against Armenia because reports have indicated that Del Bosque might try the Villa-Guiza duo upfront with Xabi Alonso and Xavi in the middle, Iniesta and Capel on the flanks. That could be a very interesting set up. Cesc might be on the bench, which I am torn about. As he says (himself), he is not a complete player yet since he does not defend as well as he should. That having been said, I think that his surgical precision with his passing is always an added edge to this side. we shall see!
iniesta just needs to gym we is as light as a feather
10 Comments · Add yours
Iniesta played great for Spain!!!!
I saw the Argentina game and again Messi was the driving force behind everything creative that they did. The pass which led to the goal was literally perfect!! A lot of people talk about how much Barcelona need Messi but I think Argentina need Messi a lot more! Riquelme seems to have lost his spark, he still does his job, but not with the same creative genious. If you take Messi out of their team I think they would struggle!