Mid-week WCQ round up

By: travis | September 10th, 2008

More World Cup Qualifiers means more recaps. I think Abby will have some post gushing about Theo Walcott, so I’ll only briefly mention him here. And post a picture. Lot of Gunners in action, and from what I’ve heard, no major injuries.

Robin Van Persie
Started and played 69 minutes for the Netherlands in their 2-1 win against FYR Macedonia. I watched a decent amount of this game, and RvP looked pretty pedestrian. Not that he was poor, but he didn’t really stand out in what turned out to be a tough match for the Oranje. There was a moment or two when I thought he was down injured for awhile, but he made it through unscathed.

Lukasz Fabianski
Got the nod in goal for Poland again, this time getting a clean sheet against San Marino. Not sure if or when Artur Boruc will be back, but for the time being our number two is the number one for the Poles.

Nicklas Bendtner
Started, played 90 minutes, and scored a goal in Denmark’s 3-2 win over Portugal. Had to be one of the shock results of today, especially since it was in Portugal.

Johan Djourou
Started and played 90 minutes in Switzerland’s 2-1 loss to Luxembourg (wtf?). How does a squad that has played in the last two major tournaments lose to this tiny nation? On top of that, do any Swiss fans care?

Theo Walcott
4-1 England wins. Theo hat trick. That’s enough. Just bring it to the Emirates please. Every week.

Cesc Fabregas
Didn’t get the start this time around, and it didn’t matter all that much, as Spain strolled 4-0 over Armenia. He came in for Xavi in the 73rd minute.

Les Bleus
Bad news and good news from the French camp. Samir Nasri was ruled out of the Serbia match with knee pain. Other than that, it was a much better day – Gael Clichy got his first senior cap and played the whole match. William Gallas and Bacary Sagna both started as well, as the Arsenal backline made up 3/4 of the French defense. Oh, and they won 2-1.

Carlos Vela
The Mexican started and played 70 minutes as they beat Canada 2-1. Seems like a lot of 2-1 results today, no? Caught glimpses of him playing, nothing that really stood out in a soggy match in the CONCACAF region.

I think that’s covered all of them. Anything or player I’ve left out, leave below with other witty comments.