With only one Chicago Fire player away on international duty, this could have been a very short international wrap.
Taking a different angle, my aim is to show the international nature of the current roster by recapping how all of the first team player’s national sides did in World Cup qualification Friday night…
Uruguay – Called back to Uruguay for the first time in a while, midfielder Alvaro Fernandez was an unused sub, watching from the sidelines as a Lionel Messi brace led Argentina to a 3-0 win over La Celeste in Mendoza.
Flaco and Uruguay remain in fourth place in CONMEBOL qualification and will hope to rebound on Tuesday when they travel to La Paz for a match against second from bottom Bolivia.
USA – The Fire’s American contingent might have been biting their finger nails much of Friday night as Juergen Klinsmann’s side eeked out a late 2-1 victory at Antigua & Barbuda. Making his first national team appearance since 2010, forward Eddie Johnson nodded the U.S. ahead in the 20th minute before Antigua’s Dexter Blackstock equalized five minutes later.
With the U.S. looking disjointed for much of the second half, Johnson would reward Klinsmann’s confidence in him by heading home U.S. debutant Alan Gordon’s 90th minute cross to give the American’s a 2-1 win.
That victory combined with Guatemala’s 2-1 win over Jamaica (in which former Fire midfielder Marco Pappa played 68 minutes) means the Americans and los Chapines sit tied on 10 points and need only a draw against each other on Tuesday for both teams to advance to next year’s final round hexagonal.
Costa Rica – In the Group B rubber match, Fire defender Gonzalo Segares got an early birthday present as Jose Cubero’s 31st minute goal stood to give Costa Rica a valuable 1-0 victory away to El Salvador.
With the win, los Ticos return to San Jose needing only to defeat a lowly Guyana side that has taken just one point from five matches in order to advance.\. Costa Rica defeated Guyana 4-0 during their earlier group game played in Georgetown.
Mexico – Already qualified for the final round, Pavel Pardo and Guillermo Franco might have looked on Friday night to see Javier Hernandez, Oribe Peralta, Andrew Guardado and Angel Reyna strike to help Mexico batter Guyana 5-0 in Houston.
They’ll close out the semifinal round Tuesday night against El Salvador in Torreon.
The Netherlands – Former Dutch youth international Sherjill MacDonald may or may not have watched as Rafael Van der Vaart, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Reuben Schaken eased the Dutch to a 3-0 victory over Andorra in Rotterdam.
The victory keeps Holland with a perfect nine points through three matches in UEFA’s Group D ahead of the team’s visit to also perfect Romania Tuesday in Bucharest.
Germany – Arne Friedrich was probably grinning from ear to ear Friday afternoon as Die Mannschaft demolished the Republic of Ireland 6-1 in Dublin. Germany got braces from Marco Reus and Toni Kroos as well as single strikes from Miroslav Klose and Mesut Oezil in the win.
Sitting alone atop Group C with a perfect 9 points from three matches, the Germans return to face second-place Sweden in Berlin on Tuesday.
Italy – Paolo Tornaghi’s Azzuri had a little trouble in the first half but eventually overpowered Armenia 3-1 in Yerevan. Andrea Pirlo put the Italians ahead with an 11th minute penalty before Henrigh Mkhitaryan equalized in the 28th, taking the teams into the break at 1-1.
Italy would respond with two goals in the second half through Daniele De Rossi (64’) and Pablo Osvaldo (82’) to earn the three road points.
The victory keeps the Italians on top of UEFA Group B with seven points ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Denmark in Milan.
