The bulk of City’s international stars have now wrapped up their games with their national teams now, with just Argentina left to play one more game, and it’s time to give you a round-up of how all our absentees performed whilst away from the club – just to make sure the international break wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Ivory Coast were the first team involving City stars to play, as they faced Angola at home in a friendly. The AFCON champions got a 2-0 draw, before facing off against Equatorial Guinea in the same stadium a few days later and being held to a 1-1 draw against the Equatoguineans. Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony were involved in both games, as one would expect.
France were also one of the earliest teams involving City stars to play, as they started with a friendly at home to Brazil in Paris. France lost 3-1, but pleasingly Bacary Sagna managed to get a full game for the home side. Aside from that game, France also played in Saint-Etienne, where they faced Denmark in a friendly and won 2-0. Sagna was also involved in that game, but only as a late substitute.
For Brazil, as well as facing France in a friendly – in which Fernandinho made an appearance as a late substitute – the South American side also faced Chile at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, again in a friendly. Fernandinho was in from the start in that game, and got a full 90 minutes as his country won 1-0 against their South American rivals.
England were back in action also, with one friendly and a European Championships qualifier. The qualifier came first, with Lithuania the visitors to Wembley as Joe Hart started and Milner had to settle for a place on the bench. The Three Lions eventually won with Hart playing the full game, and Milner unfortunately not appearing. Milner wasn’t even in the squad for England’s second game, as they faced Italy in a friendly in Turin. However, Hart once again started and played the whole game as the game was drawn 1-1, with England coming from behind.
Part of City’s Spanish contingent was off on international duty, as they also faced a qualifier and a friendly. Ukraine were the visitors to Seville in a qualifier as David Silva started, and the points were left in Spain, with Silva’s side grabbing a 1-0 win against the Eastern Europeans and our star midfielder getting a full game. David Silva was on the bench for Spain’s second game, a friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Silva did however get on the pitch as a halftime substitute, but his side lost 2-0 to the Dutch.
Stevan Jovetic and Montenegro ended up getting very little football despite having a qualifier against Russia scheduled at home. The match did get started but didn’t finish, after a brawl broke out and the game had to be called off. That came after Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit in the head by a flare just 20 seconds into the first half. Both Montenegro and Russia have been charged for the brawl by UEFA.
Edin Dzeko heavily featured for Bosnia during their games in the international break, starting both as they faced Andorra in a qualifier and Austria in a friendly, with both games away from home. In the visit to Andorra, Edin managed to grab a hattrick in a 3-0 win to take all three points back to Bosnia. In the 1-1 friendly draw against Austria he wasn’t quite so lucky but his team still got a draw. In both games, Dzeko got 90 minutes.
Belgium also had two games, both of which were European Championships Qualifiers. First, they faced Cyprus at home and won 5-0, with Kompany playing the full match for his country. The second game for Kompany was somewhat more eventful, because even though his country did manage to get a 1-0 win in Israel, he was sent off for two yellow cards, going off with just over 25 minutes to go. Fortunately, his side held out for the three points. However, it wasn’t all bad news – minutes after Kompany’s exit, Jason Denayer came on to make his Belgium debut, playing the last 25 minutes of the win in Jerusalem.
Some sides did only play one game, such as Serbia. They faced Portugal in a qualifier for the European Championships, with both Kolarov and Nastasic starting. They both got 90 minutes for their national team, but were unable to prevent it losing 2-1 to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, leaving them 6 points off of qualification for the Euros.
Finally, Argentina had two fixtures, with one of those still to be played. They faced El Salvador away in a friendly, with Zabaleta the only City player to start. He got the full game, while Sergio Aguero had to content himself with being an unused substitute as Argentina won 2-0 against El Salvador. The South American side play their second and final international game of the break on Wednesday, with Ecuador the visitors, also in a friendly.
