Ligue 1 Internationals Update from Day 2

By: Sarah | October 19th, 2009

So, the internationals games and World Cup Qualification round has come to an end– at least until the play-off games in November. This post is a starting point to help track the Ligue 1 player’s success on the international level. I’ll continue to update it based on the tips received in the comments section…

Europe

France

France continued its hot streak and added another three goals to their tally– that means they have managed to score 8 goals in two goals from five different players (Gignac, Gallas, Benzema, Henry and Anelka), not a bad ratio! This was a great win for France, a team who has had trouble winning games until they basically had to. They had already secured the 2nd place play-off position with their 5-0 win over the Faroe Islands last weekend so this game was purely for pride. It is also often said that the French people have a lot of pride and honor– I’m glad the national team was finally able to represent that instead of the more negative French stereotype of arrogance. Next up for France is the play-off game draw on Monday, October 19th in Zurich, and of course there is some controversy (isn’t there always with FIFA?). To catch up on that gossip read Daryl’s post on the front page here. The good news is that we will probably have Gourcuff back for the play-off game (but who knows about Ribery) and Ligue 1 has officially changed the game schedule to help France qualify…

Ligue 1 players continued to sparkle for France as Gignac managed three goals in two games for Les Bleus, Mandanda

As always, check the Offside-France World Cup blog for up-to-date news.

France-Austria Highlights

Other Results in Europe

Midfielder Gelson Fernandes (Saint-Etienne ) and Stephane Grichting (Auxerre) helped Switzerland win Group two to guarantee their place in South Africa by drawing with Israel.

Robert Vittek (Lille) made a substitute appearance for Slovakia against Ludovic Obraniak (Lille) and Ireneusz Jelen’s (Auxerre) Poland . Slovakia’s 1-0 win allowed them to qualify for the finals for the first time since they split from the Czech Republic.

Slovakia’s win means that second place Slovenia with Bostjan Cesar (Grenoble), Valter Birsa (Auxerre) and Bojan Jokic (Sochaux) will have to appear in next month’s play-offs, despite beating San Marino 3-0.

Even though Bosnia-Herzegovina had already secured second place (a play-off place) before they faced Spain, Miralem Pjanic (Lyon) and defender Emir Spahic (Montpellier) received further international experience in a 5-2 crush.

Africa

Romao (Grenoble) and Serge Akakpo’s (Monaco) Togo lost 5-0 to Japan in a friendly.

In another friendly Senegal lost 2-0 to South Korea, though no one is quite sure who played for either team. Odds are it contained some Ligue 1 players…

The Americas

Argentina

Gabriel Heinze (OM) starred as Argentina struck late to beat Diego Pérez’s (Monaco) Uruguay 1-0. Argentina qualify for the Finals, Uruguay now face a play-off against Costa Rica and Maradona is being investigated by FIFA for his rant against the press.

Argentina vs. Uruguay Highlights

Other Results in the Americas

Nice goalkeeper David Ospina was in the Colombia side that bowed out on a high with a 2-0 win in Paraguay.

The already-qualified USA played an emotional game against Costa Rica, coming back from a deficit of two goals to draw with Costa Rica. Before the game, Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes) and the team paid tribute to Charlie Davies (Sochaux) who is recovering from a serious car accident and will not be able to attend South Africa. Check the Offside-US blog for more details.

Ligue 1 stars who we won’t see in South Africa include…

Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux) could not help the Czech Republic team beat Northern Ireland as both teams’ drew and failed to qualify.

Despite Vedran Runje (Lens) performance in the goal helping Croatia to win against Kazakhstan, they were eliminated from group six.

Sweden’s Kim Källstrom (Lyon) helped his team beat Albania 4-1, but this win couldn’t help his team qualify for the World Cup.

Despite Roland Lamah (Le Mans) and Kevin Mirallas (Saint-Etienne) playing the full ninety minutes and having Eden Hazard (Lille) on the bench, Belgium was unable to beat Estonia as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat.