International Friendlies Recap

Yesterday’s full slate of international Friendlies served up a plate full of notable performances.

The most anticipated match was the 1st ever meeting of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a non La Liga match up. Both stars lived up to their billing. After 14 minutes Messi once again demonstrated his dogged determination NOT to go to ground despite incessant fouling, by assisting on Argentina’s 1st goal to Angel Di Maria. Ronaldo (who also had a shot clang off the crossbar) countered with a goal of his own just 7 minutes later. Messi finished with the upper hand however, converting a 90th minute PK to give Argentina the 2-1 win.
Meanwhile, Brazil could not survive the 1st half ejection of Anderson Hernanes, falling 1-0 to France on 54th minute goal by Karim Benzema.
In Atlanta, Javier Hernandez and Edgar Pacheco scored second-half goals to give Mexico a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in a successful debut for El Tri coach Jose Manuel de la Torre.
In other games, American born Guiseppe Rossi helped Italy salvage a 1-1 tie with Germany, notching the equalizer in the 84th minute, and England overcame a 1 goal deficit on goals from Aston Villa teammates Darren Bent and Ashley Young to top Denmark 2-1.
Other scores from yesterday’s action;

• Iran 1, Russia 0
• Croatia 4, Czech Republic 2
• Netherlands 3, Austria 1
• Turkey 0, South Korea 0
• Greece 1, Canada 0
• Spain 1, Colombia 0