Last week saw a host of mid-week internationals and a full weekend Premier League schedule. Here’s a summary of the action.
Internationals
The mercurial talent that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four goals in the friendly match against England in Stockholm, including a perfectly struck free kick and a stunning overhead strike from outside the area. Perhaps this performance will put an end to the criticism often levelled at Sweden’s talisman for not performing against English teams.
In the 80th minute of the match between Brazil and a resurgent Colombia side in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Neymar – a prodigiously talented and extravagantly coiffured Brazilian forward hailed by Pele as the world’s greatest player – prepared to take a penalty kick. The resulting kick resembled a conversion attempt, as the ball sailed over the bar, in what must surely be one of the worst penalty misses of the year. Click here to see it.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – The Saudi Arabian national team played Argentina, the side with arguably the greatest depth of attacking talent on the planet. Playing up front alongside the world’s best player, Lionel Messi was none other than Franco di Santo, the burly and far from prolific Chelsea reject and current Wigan Athletic striker. Di Santo was to spurn several simple chances over the course of a dour 0-0 encounter.
The Weekend
In Saturday’s early kick-off fans were treated to the derby game between Arsenal and Tottenham. Ten minutes into the game and an animated Adebayor was celebrating exuberantly, after putting Tottenham ahead against his former side, with what was only his first league goal of the season. Minutes later he received a red card for a reckless tackle on Santi Cazorla.
Claudio Suarez’s ninth and tenth league goals of the season contributed to a 3-0 win against Wigan Athletic at the DW stadium. Suarez is now only one short of the eleven league goals he scored during the course of the whole of the previous league campaign.
Norwich’s resurgence continued as they moved up to 13th in the table after an unexpected 1-0 win against Manchester United at Carrow Road. Norwich are now unbeaten in five games, in which time they have conceded a solitary goal. A marked improvement on the eleven goals in the five league games prior to that.
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