By IAN HOLLIDAY
Europe's top leagues took an international break this week, as players were called in to their national teams for friendlies and Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Friday was the busiest match day, and it yielded some surprising results. In Euro qualifying, Northern Ireland held Italy to a scoreless draw, while Estonia pulled off a shock 3-1 upset of Serbia in Serbia. There was at least one surprise in international friendlies on Friday as well, as Japan defeated Argentina 1-0 for the first time ever.
It wasn't all upsets on Friday though, as some of the favorites won big. Germany defeated Turkey 3-0 in a match that drew tens of thousands of Turkish fans to the Olimpiastadion in Berlin. World champions Spain easily disposed of Lithuania 3-1, while Hungary destroyed woeful San Marino 8-0. In friendlies, Uruguay destroyed Indonesia 7-1 in a match that featured hat-tricks for both Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani.
Brazil got the week going with a classy 3-0 win over Iran on Thursday, while France defeated Romania and Croatia beat Israel in Saturday's two Euro qualifiers.
The New York Red Bulls' Dane Richards scored the lone goal on a penalty to give Jamaica a 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in Sunday's only game.
Here's a rundown of the scores from Thursday through Sunday:
THURSDAY
Iran 0, Brazil 3
Bolivia 1, Venezuela 3
FRIDAY
EURO QUALIFYING
Kazakhstan 0, Belgium 2
Germany 3, Turkey 0
Austria 3, Azerbaijan 0
Armenia 3, Slovakia 1
Ireland 2, Russia 3
Andorra 0, Macedonia 2
Serbia 1, Estonia 3
Slovenia 5, Faroe Islands 1
Northern Ireland 0, Italy 0
Luxemborg 0, Belarus 0
Albania 1, Bosnia-Herzgovina 1
Hungary 8, San Marino 0
Moldova 0, Netherlands 1
Georgia 1, Malta 0
Greece 1, Latvia 0
Montenegro 1, Switzerland 0
Wales 0, Bulgaria 1
Cyprus 1, Norway 2
Portugal 3, Denmark 1
Czech Republic 1, Scotland 0
Spain 3, Lithuania 1
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
Japan 1, Argentina 0
Ecuador 0, Colombia 1
China 2, Syria 1
Panama 1, El Salvador 0
Indonesia 1, Uruguay 7
New Zealand 1, Honduras 1
Peru 2, Costa Rica 0
Ukraine 2, Canada 2
SATURDAY
EURO QUALIFYING
France 2, Romania 0
Israel 1, Croatia 2
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
United Arab Emirates 0, Chile 2
Australia 1, Paraguay 0
United States 2, Poland 2
SUNDAY
Jamaica 1, Trinidad and Tobago 0
What did you think of this week's international matches? Impressed by Brazil? Surprised by Argentina or Serbia?
Share your thoughts below.
Or Concacaf minnows are weak teams and CONMEBOL (in qualifying not friendlies) is a completely different ball game. As a Peruvian-American I hope your optimism is rewarded. Peru’s got talent (probably 4 or 5 players on or better than Donovan’s level) so they could definitely be a force, but that infrastructure and environment on the national team was seriously messed up for years. I don’t think its an easy fix.
how on earth does he take their penalties?
The tie with Ukraine means a whole stack of FIFA points for Canada, sweet!
Props to Movsisyan for scoring.
Peru has been cleaning house in the concacaf. 5 game winning streak. 4 of the teams r concacaf. they beat honduras 2 to 1 during world cup preperation. beat canada 2 to 0. beat jamaice 2 to 1. beat costa rica 2 to 0. costa rica being the only home game. and now they have to play against panama in panama city tomorrow.
i feel a change coming finally.
Meanwhile, Montenegro stays perfect.
The Estonia win over Serbia has to be one of the biggest shocks in the last five years…
Serbia is a perennial World Cup participant with Top 4 Premier League talent, while Estonia hever has and never will participate in a Euro or World Cup championship…
Look at Sweden tomorrow against Holland. So many of the Swedish players have played or are playing in Holland right now. Go sverige
Steven Gerrard is 7th highest capped Englishman ever. He’ll make his 88th appearance tomorrow. He’s only 30 and still 1 of their best players. I could see him playing on til the 2014 WC and making maybe 30 more caps.
Fernando Llorente scoring a brace. 6 goals in 11 appearances. He looks to be taking Torres’ spot. Torres needs to get healthy quick and get back into form so he can solidify his starting sport for Spain.
81 appearances with 27 goals. Not bad. 3 in 2006 WC and scored the winner at Euro 2008
that dude scored for Armenia. Maybe they have a shot at euro2016 since there will be 24 teams. It’s the best show they’ll ever have
dane richards… woot woot!