Daily Archives: November 18, 2015
A Quick Roundup of Gunners on International Duty
The international breaks are boring fests because nothing major happens from a club football perspective but the world was in solidarity with France in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris. Yesterday’s game between England and France was close to being cancelled but everything went well. Gooner Daily comes come from its hiatus to give a quick report on the Gunners on international duty. Apologies for the blogging inactivity in recent days – work has been quite overwhelming as always.
Alexis Sanchez
In the last international window, Alexis was in the form of his life, scoring goals with consummate ease but things aren’t that patchy for the Chilean hotshot. He played 90 minutes for his beloved nation as the South American champions shared the spoils with Colombia. Arturo Vidal opened the scoring for the hosts but James Rodriguez equalized for his team. Alexis will be part of the Chile squad that will visit Uruguay tonight to take on the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani.
Petr Cech
Arsenal’s safe hands switched allegiances from the Red of North London to the Red of the Czech Republic and he hit another personal milestone as he earned his 117th cap, matching Karel Poborsky’s record for the national team. Cech was an unused substitute in his nation’s demolition of Serbia but he featured for 90 minutes as the Czech lost 3-1 to Poland. Goals from Arek Milik, Tomasz Jodowiec and Kamil Grosicki put them to the sword.
Kieran Gibbs
With most of Arsenal’s English contingent out with injuries, Gibbs managed to get some game time in England’s victory over France last night. Dele Alli opening the scoring for the English and the game was sealed with a fine strike from Wayne Rooney. However, Gibbs spent the entire time in the dugout when England lost to Spain earlier in the window.
David Ospina
Ospina has had a shaky season so far with a combination of injuries and poor form. However, he was fit enough to feature in Colombia’s World Cup qualifying fixtures against Chile and Argentina. Ospina’s team shared the spoils with Chile but they lost narrowly at home to Argentina thanks to Lucas Biglia.
Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny
With France hosting the forthcoming European Championships, all they had to do was to keep playing high-profile friendlies to test their players capabilities ahead of the big one this summer. Giroud and Koscielny played for France in their 2-0 win against Germany and it was heartwarming to see Giroud get in the scoring act as well. In France’s second friendly encounter, they were beaten by their hosts, England, at Wembley.
Santi Cazorla
The diminutive magician started and scored in Spain’s 2-0 win over England. Their second friendly agaisnt Belgium was cancelled.
Gabriel Paulista
Gabriel watched from the bench as two South American juggernauts, Brazil and Argentina, clashed in a World Cup qualifier that ended in a draw. Ezequiel Lavezzi opened the scoring for the Argentines but his effort was cancelled by Lucas Lima. Gabriel is odds on to be on the bench again when Brazil hosts Peru.
Joel Campbell
The Costa Rican forward has been seeing a lot of game time lately but he was part of the team that defeated Haiti with a solitary goal from Christian Gamboa. Campbell will feature in the game against Panama tonight.
Alex Iwobi
Iwobi was on the bench in Nigeria’s double header against Swaziland. The first game in Lobamba ended in a stalemate but Nigeria won the return leg with two goals thanks to Simon Moses and Efe Ambrose.
There have been no injuries thus far and we can only hope it continues that way ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Brom.
Sayonara.
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