International Friendlies - these two words can be a thing of beauty for the die-hard countryman; but these words can also cause nightmares. Everyone is aware of the FIFA virus and its reared its ugly head again for many clubs around the world. Not many (including myself) are pleased with the timing of these friendlies - particularly because Real Madrid’s La Liga campaign kicks off in 3 days -_-. Well, lets take a look at how our Madridistas did while on duty, shall we?
Portugal 1-1 Holland (Cristiano, Pepe, & Coentrao)
The Portuguese played a hard fought game and trailed through much of the match. Pepe had a solid match and continued his strong form from the preseason. Coentrao had a strong match as well, connecting with Cristiano on numerous plays showing the Madrid connection they share. Unfortunately though, he limped off injured late in the match. Some were saying it was a pulled hamstring, others were saying Fabio was just suffering from cramps. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In terms of Cristiano, the usual. Willed his team to a deserved draw, eventually earning the equalizer for his side. Beast.
Liechtenstein 2-3 Croatia (Modric)
Didn’t get a chance to catch the match highlights. Fortunately, Luka Modric played and had no issues. He wasn’t injured which is relieving because Luka will be one of Real Madrid’s most important players this season. Our chances on perhaps a treble depends very much on his health. He’s the new boss in the midfield.
Germany 3-3 Paraguay (Mesut Özil & Sami Khedira)
What a match. Mesut was his normal magician-self getting an assist in the match. He’s now at 20 assists for 2013 - 9 off his career high for a calendar year. Sami was his normal bossing presence in the midfield, making tackles and winning possession for his squad. Both are healthy.
Italy 1-2 Argentina (Di Maria)
Di Maria is best known for his 3rd lung because the guy never seems to stop running. When he gets to sprinting, it’s pretty hard to stop him and he proved this against Italy. He caused some havoc for the Italy defence and continued his wonderful preseason form. This is the best I’ve seen Di Maria ever. This year maybe a breakout year. He also caught up with former Madridista Higuain! Always lovely to see! DiMaria = healthy and ready!
Switzerland 1-0 Brazil (Marcelo)
Brazil’s unbeaten run came to an end and unfortunately, Marcelo was also on the losing end. Didn’t catch highlights but what’s important is that Marcelo had no issues and was healthy. Ofcourse with Coentrao’s apparent injury, we may need Marcelo more than ever.
Belgium 0-0 France (Benzema)
Nothing to see here. Benzema had another poor outing for his national team. He’s been having these type of performances for quite a while now for his national team. Worrying.
Ecuador 0-2 Spain (Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Alvaro Arbeloa & Isco)
Iker = made some great saves. Returning to top form. (slowly but surely)
Sergio Ramos = Rock in the defense as always.
Arbeloa = solid match.
Isco = played 0 minutes. Damn you Del Bosque!
Northern Ireland 1-0 Russia (Denis Cheryshev)
Cheryshev played a total of 4 and a half minutes and pulled a hamstring. Unbelievable! He came on in the 2nd half as quickly as he came off! We’ll have to see what happens. It looked bad..
Well there you have it! Cristiano, Pepe, Arbeloa, Casillas, Ramos, Isco, Ozil, Khedira, Benzema, Modric, Marcelo, & Di Maria = all healthy and ready for Sunday!
Coentrao & Cheryshev = injured, hopefully nothing serious! The FIFA virus has struck again..
Twitter: @WeAreMadrid10
