International Duty - Take 4

Brede Hangeland has been ruled out of this week's Internationals:


"Fulham manager Jol admitted: "It's not easy with nerves. I don't know how long he will be out."

"He tried but he said he couldn't play [on Saturday] and he's not going to be playing for his country either."


Good news in the sense that he now has more time to recover and won't be off risking things like last time. On a point of uncertaintity though - is it really only down to whether the player says he can or cannot play? Don't know anything about "nerve" injuries but don't the physyo/fitness guys do tests and stuff to determine if he's okay or not?

 

Rosc's favourite, Jesse Joronen was in goal, and captained the side, as Finland Under-21s went down to a 3-0 defeat by England last night in their European Championship Qualifier. They’re back in action once again tomorrow when they travel to Cardiff to face Wales.

 

Alexander Kačaniklić and Giorgos Karagounis are each set for two vital fixtures in their international careers, starting on Friday, with a place at next year’s FIFA World Cup up for grabs.

For Alex, it would be a fantastic reward for a remarkable surge to prominence in the national side, as the winger featured in all but one of Sweden’s qualifying matches in Group C. They now face Portugal in the Play-Offs and with one of Europe’s most in-form players on either side – Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo – it’s a tie that neutrals across the globe are relishing. Kačaniklić and his teammates are in Lisbon for the First Leg on Friday, before returning to Solna to wrap their campaign up on Tuesday.

Goal difference was all that denied Greece automatic qualification from the Group Stages, but Giorgos and co will still fancy their chances of booking their spot in Brazil. They face a Romania side who won six less points than Greece over the 10 group matches, whilst they also conceded three times as many goals. The First Leg will be played on Greek soil, before the decider in Bucharest four days later.

Ashkan Dejagah is the only other player in competitive action for his nation, as Iran have a double header of AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. First up they face Thailand in Bangkok on Friday, before another away trip on Tuesday when they travel to Beirut to take on Lebanon. Six points from the matches would put Iran firmly in control of Group B as they already sit top of the standings by two points.

A host of friendly matches are set to take place on Friday, with Swiss duo Pajtim Kasami and Philippe Senderos both in the squad for their game against Korea Republic in Seoul, while Aaron Hughes is somewhat closer to home for Northern Ireland’s fixture away to Turkey.

Following his return to fitness, Maarten Stekelenburg has earned a recall to the Netherlands squad and could feature in their friendlies against Japan on Saturday or Colombia on Tuesday. And there’s just one international game on Sunday featuring a Fulham man, as Elsad Zverotić’s Montenegro are away to Luxembourg.

Lasse Vigen Christensen is in the Denmark U21 squad for their European qualifier games at home to Bulgaria on Friday and away to Andorra on Tuesday.

 

If he has sciatica as Jol mentioned then he is injured alright. You don't need the physio or fitness guys. A simple MRI scan

 

Terrific goals tonight for Pajtim Kasami and Ashkhan Dejagah -



[video=youtube;KBnVZyREh5A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBnVZyREh5A[/video]

 

"There were highs and lows for the Whites' international stars in their crunch FIFA World Cup 2014 playoff first leg matches.

It may only be half-time in the tie, but Giorgos Karagounis will be delighted with Greece's efforts in overcoming Romania by three goals to one in Piraeus, Athens. In a chaotic seven-minute period, the Greeks went ahead through in-form striker Kostas Mitroglou on 14 minutes before Romanian frontman Bogdan Stancu pulled Victor Pituca's men level five minutes later.

Dimitris Salpigidis restored the hosts lead less than two minutes after the restart, and Mitroglou struck again after 67 minutes to hand the hosts a two-goal cushion.

Manager Fernando Santos called Karagounis from the substitutes bench after 77 minutes to help see out the result, and Romania's Costin Lazar was shown a red card in stoppage time as frustrations boiled over.

Karagounis and his compatriots will travel to Bucharest on Tuesday in a strong position to secure their place in Brazil next summer, but Alexander Kačaniklić and Sweden have it all to do when they host their second leg against Portugal at the Friends Arena in Stockholm. The Whites young winger showed glimpses of his potential in Lisbon, but Cristiano Ronaldo's header from Miguel Veloso's cross consigned the Swedes to a 1-0 defeat.

Manager Erik Hamren started Kacaniklic on the left, and the 22-year-old caused Portugese right-back Joao Pereira all manner of problems, drawing a foul and a yellow card for his marker after a deft step-over just before half-time.

But Portugal increased the pressure on the visitors in the second half and the Real Madrid striker Ronaldo pounced to head the only goal on 82 minutes.


Ashkan Dejagah was on target as Iran cruised past Thailand 3-0 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier. The Whites wideman opened the scoring on 32 minutes before Reza Ghoochannejhad and Alireza Jahanbakhsh enhanced the victory in Bangkok, leaving Iran top of their qualifying group with ten points from four games.


Pajtim Kasami was also on the scoresheet, with his first international goal in his first senior start, but Switzerland slipped to a 2-1 defeat in a friendly against South Korea. Kasami fired Ottmar Hitzfeld's team ahead with a left-footed drive with only seven minutes on the clock as the Swiss went into half-time in Seoul a goal to the good.

Philippe Senderos was introduced on 47 minutes, and Kasami withdrawn on 69 minutes, as goals from Jeong-Ho Hong and Bolton's Chung-Yong Lee completed the comeback.


In other friendly action, Aaron Hughes started at centre-back for Northern Ireland in Turkey, but a solitary goal from Mevlut Erdinc on the stroke of half-time made the difference as Turkey held on win 1-0 in Adana."

 

Jesse Joronen captained his side to a thumping 5-1 win over Wales U21 at Bangor yesterday in a Euro 2015 qualifier. The home side were 4-0 behind at half-time, with Finland's striker Tim Vayrynen grabbing a hat-trick.

 

Here is a video which includes Pajtim Kasami's first goal for Switzerland - and what a good one it is!



[video=youtube;ojmwEA_8s9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojmwEA_8s9Q&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

And another one gets on the scoresheet:


"Elsad Zverotić was on target for Montenegro on yesterday as they cruised to a 4-1 away win against Luxembourg.

Despite a promising start by the hosts, Montenegro went ahead in the friendly fixture when a penalty was awarded for handball, with Marko Basa stepping up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way from 12 yards.

Zverotić doubled the lead shortly before the hour mark when he converted Fatos Bećiraj’s cutback following a mix-up in the home defence, although Luxembourg pulled a goal back 10 minutes later through Maurice Deville.

Any hopes of a comeback were extinguished just moments later, though, as Miroje Jovanović netted from the edge of the area, before Marko Ćetković wrapped things up once and for all in the 82nd minute, with Zverotić substituted shortly after.

 

An interesting night for some of the lads:


Alexander Kačaniklić is gearing up for one of the biggest games of his career so far when Sweden host Portugal on Tuesday night.

Portugal arrive in Stockholm with a slender advantage after Cristiano Ronaldo handed them a 1-0 win in the First Leg in Lisbon on Saturday to leave the tie poised on a knife edge as the two nations battle for a place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The Swedes will be hoping home advantage allows them to utilise the talents of captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic to a greater extent, as the striker was marked out of the game last week and didn’t register a single touch in the opposition penalty box throughout the 90 minutes.


Elsewhere in the Play-Offs, Greece may have one foot in Brazil but will need to be avoid complacency against Romania if they are to rubber-stamp their spot at next year’s global showpiece. Giorgos Karagounis and his teammates secured a valuable 3-1 victory in Athens on Saturday, but Romania’s away goal means the tie remains an open contest.

Both sides are expected to make changes for the game in Bucharest, with influential Greece midfielder Kostas Katsouranis ruled out through suspension, while the home side will be without Alexandru Bourceanu and Costin Lazar for the same reason. However, a major boost for the Romanians could arrive in the guise of Tottenham Hotspur defender Vlad Chiriches. The commanding centre-back missed the First Leg, but could return to play with a protective mask.


In the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, Iran go into their clash with Lebanon knowing that a point will guarantee their place at the 2015 tournament in Australia. Ashkan Dejagah scored in Saturday’s victory over Thailand and manager Carlos Quieroz has targeted three more points from Tuesday’s match in Beirut.


In friendly action, Maarten Stekelenburg is in the Netherlands squad for their game against Colombia in Amsterdam. The Fulham stopper was on the bench for their 2-2 draw with Japan on Saturday, and will no doubt be keen for some minutes on the pitch following his recall to the national side.


Denmark Under-21s have made a fine start to their European Championship qualifying campaign, and Lasse Vigen Christensen and co will want to maintain that momentum when they take on Andorra away from home on Tuesday.

 

No surprises in the play-offs.

Kara played about 70 mins before he substituted and setup Greece's goal.

 

Mixed fortunes though for our two World Cup hopefuls; Greece getting through to Brazil 2014 beatiing Rumania 4-1 on aggregate, but Sweden were on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat to Porugal.


"Giorgos Karagounis was recalled to Greece’s starting line-up for the return leg in Budapest and, with the captain’s armband on, he played an influential role in his nation’s qualification for a second successive World Cup Finals. Romania were always going to be up against it following their 3-1 defeat in Athens on Saturday, and they never really looked like staging a comeback, with the visitors making all the early running.

Giannis Maniatis had the first effort of note which forced Ciprian Tatarusanu into a good save, and the Romanian goalkeeper had to be alert again shortly after to deal with a dangerous Karagounis corner. The Fulham midfielder was proving to be a menace from set-plays, and Greece almost opened the scoring when Georgios Samaras met his free-kick but sent the header just wide. The deadlock on the night was broken soon after, though, with Karagounis again involved.

The 36-year-old sent a perfectly weighted pass into the area which Kostas Mitroglou – Greece’s two-goal hero from the weekend – dispatched to put his side firmly in control of the tie.

Now holding a 4-1 aggregate scoreline, the visitors were content to contain their opponents, although Romania were offered a glimmer of hope in fortunate circumstances 10 minutes into the second half. Greece defender Jose Holebas tried to clear a loose ball from inside his own area, but it crashed into Vasileios Torosidis and over the line for an own goal. That spurred the Romanians into life as they attacked in their droves, but Greece’s defence showed why they were the joint-meanest in European qualifying as they successfully survived the onslaught.

Karagounis was substituted with little more than a quarter of an hour remaining but was unsurprisingly back on the pitch to join in the full-time celebrations, complete with his customary shirt-toss into the crowd.


Sadly, one Fulham man who will not be showcasing his talents in South America next summer is Alexander Kačaniklić after Sweden went down 3-2 to Portugal. With Cristiano Ronaldo’s header from the First Leg handing Portugal a narrow advantage going into Tuesday’s clash in Stockholm, Sweden needed to come out and attack from the off, but it was the visiting side who were in control of the opening 45 minutes.

Alex Kačaniklić was actually one of his side’s brighter performers in the first half as he linked up nicely with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and also combined well with Norwich City’s Martin Olsson down the left. However, the greater chances fell the way of Portugal, with Ronaldo at the heart of the action. Sweden had a decent opportunity to go ahead on the night early into the second period but Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson could only find the goalkeeper with his effort – and it was a miss that proved costly as 90 seconds later Ronaldo doubled Portugal’s aggregate lead when he smashed an angled ball beyond Andreas Isaksson.

That gave Sweden the unenviable task of needing to score three, but they threatened a remarkable turnaround when Ibrahimovic netted twice in five minutes; the first a header from a corner, and the second a thunderous free-kick. But Ronaldo wasn’t to be outshone and the Real Madrid forward scored two more himself to secure his hat-trick and send Portugal to the World Cup in style, on the back of a 4-2 aggregate victory. Kačaniklić played 82 minutes of the game and while the young winger will understandably be devastated with his country’s failure to reach the Finals, he can take immense pride from the role he played throughout their qualifying campaign.


Iran had already qualified for Brazil 2014, and they now know they’ll be competing at another major tournament after Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Lebanon guaranteed their spot at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The game was played behind-closed-doors for security reasons after the Iranian Embassy in Beirut was bombed earlier in the day, although there were concerns that it wouldn’t go ahead at all.

Ashkan Dejagah was involved from the off and grabbed his second goal in as many games for the national side when he hit a composed first-time finish beyond the Lebanon goalkeeper to make it 2-0, after Amirhossein Sadeghi had given Iran the lead in the first half. It was three soon after as Javad Nekounam converted from the penalty spot, with Reza Ghoochannejhad then adding a fourth, although Lebanon – whose qualification hopes were extinguished by the defeat – did grab a consolation courtesy of Mohamad Haidar’s superb solo goal.


In Under-21 action, Liam Donnelly played 90 minutes as Northern Ireland snatched a late win at home to Cyprus, as Jonny Gorman's free-kick was turned into his own net by Andreas Christofides with five minutes remaining.


Lasse Vigen Christensen was the final Fulham man involved for his country on Tuesday evening, as he helped Denmark Under-21s to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Andorra. The young midfielder started the European Championship Qualifier and played 74 minutes as goals from Kenneth Zohore and Yussuf Poulsen maintained the Danes’ position at the top of Group 2."