International Friendlies - 11/11, 11/12.

Well this past Friday we had a ton of huge fixtures with Mexico defeating Serbia 2-0 starting this post off. Carlos Salcido opened the account in the 2nd minute while Javier Hernandez wrapped the game up with his 87th minute penalty strike. The United States performed well in their performance in France, staying in the game with threatening opportunities and vital defending that kept the likes of Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema off their games. Having said that though, the result ended up in France's favor as substitute Loic Remy challenged American goalkeeper Tim Howard once and then proceeded to slot home the second time around. The goal came in the 72nd minute. Meanwhile, in Ukraine guests Germany had to fight fiercely to stay in the match. Let it just be pointed out before hand though, that Germany goalkeeper for the evening was Ron-Robert Zieler, playing in what may be considered an introductory game. Andrei Iarmolenko started things off in the 28th minute with a push in the right direction for the Ukrainians who were playing for the first time in their brand-new Kiev Olympic Stadium. Evgen Konoplyanka made it 2-0 for the Ukrainians in the 36th minute to really leave the Germans scratching their heads. Toni Kroos did show that the Germans had some resistance though, as he struck in the 38th minute to the delight of the visiting fans. However this was short-lived as Sergei Nazarenko gave Ukraine a deserved 3-1 advantage, striking just before the half to keep the evening exciting. Sami Khedira had an opportunity before the half as well which nearly occurred after his header came off the woodwork and clipped the keeper's foot to begin rolling back into his own net. The Ukraine's keeper Oleksandr Rybka was able to seize the ball on the goal line and salvage an embarrassing moment. Neither keeper was perfect though as Zieler solidified for Germany (including a save in the 49th from the ever-dangerous Andriy Shevchenko) while Rybka's defenses cracked. Simon Rolfes brought the score to 3-2 in the 65th with a point-blank strike after a beautiful ball from Mat Julian Hummels. Finally, Thomas Muller struck a rather ordinary ball from the edge of the box in the 77th which somehow found its way into goal. Poland v.s. Italy was another good game as the visitors were actually able to control the game for large portions, scoring twice without reply for a 0-2 win. Jakub Blaszczykowski had an opportunity from the penalty spot in the 84th which he was unable to convert for Poland while Mario Balotelli and Giampaolo Pazzini did not have that problem in the 30th and 60th minutes respectively. Over in Cyprus, the hosts were edged 1-2 by a tight Scotland side. Kenny Miller and Jamie Mackie each struck before Dimitris Christofi scored for the Cypriots in the 59th. Panama defeated Costa Rica 2-0 on Friday while Belgium were able to edge Romania 2-1. Up in Denmark the hosts were able to beat the visiting Swedes thanks to goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Michael Krohn-Delhi in the 34th and 80th minutes respectively. Greece and Russia tied 1-1 in their match as the Netherlands weren't able to do much of anything in their match against Switzerland. Hungary on the other hand destroyed Liechtenstein 5-0 in a fantastic display of football. The last two matches on Friday were between Albania-Azerbaijan and Georgia-Moldova. In the first match-up, Albania were undone by their guests 0-1 while Georgia were rather rude hosts in a 2-0 victory. Finally, on Saturday England faced the World and European champions Spain... And won! While Spain may have had a total of 21 shots to England's 3, and about 70% of possession, it was the hosts England who left the game with their heads held high. The breakthrough for England? It came from Frank Lampard in the 49th minute after the team-captain-for-the-game collected a rebound from Darren Bent's header and nodded home to the delight of the fans and the consternation of Spain's Iker Casillas. Spain also had 6 corners to England's 1 as the Three Lions kept things together in the back despite tons of pressure from the Spanish. There were some notable missing faces on the English side as John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere were absent (coach Fabio Capello actually missed his son's wedding to oversee the match). Wales v.s. Norway continued the pattern of British island nations taking care of all challengers as the hosts dealt a 4-1 blow to the Norwegians. Last but not least we had South Africa's 1-1 draw with the Ivory Coast.