Bayern Munich : International break roundup

Before the serious business (FCB v Leverkusen, Reserves v Großaspach) gets going again, let’s have a quick look at the international midweek action of the Bayern players.

Franck Ribery’s France beat Germany 2-1. It was a deserved win for Les Bleus against a German team that looked surprisingly harmless especially in the second half. Ribery received an injury (Marco Reus thigh knock) after only a few minutes but continued to play until half time and, considering that he wasn’t 100% fit anymore, did a good job.

For Germany, Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Toni Kroos started. Boateng and Badstuber struggled just like the entire defense did, Kroos was okay offensively but uninspiring defensively. Badstuber was replaced at half-time, abdominal muscle problems make him a bit doubtful just like Ribery, Mario Gomez and Thomas Müller entered the pitch for the second half. The striker couldn’t contribute much, Müller was arguably one of Germany’s best players and assisted the only goal scored by Cacau. Manuel Neuer did not play.

Wiese

Boateng – Hummels – Badstuber (Höwedes) – Aogo

Khedira (Bender) – Kroos

Reus (Cacau) – Özil – Schürrle (Müller)

Klose (Gomez)

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Giroud

Ribery (Menez) – Nasri – Valbuena (Amalfitano)

Cabaye (Diarra) – M’Vila (Malouda)

Abidal – Mexes – Rami – Debuchy

Lloris

Netherlands, including Arjen Robben, beat England at Wembley. Robben himself scored twice in the deserved 3-2 win and there is no doubt that he was the man of the match. The great news were slightly overshadowed by his post-match statements. The winger, at least according to the online translations of Telegraaf and Dagblad articles, mentioned that playing for Oranje was a lot of fun because he is trusted, receives many passes and doesn’t have to deal with the in his opinion very unjustified criticism of the German media. Hopefully just a bit frustration that will disappear soon enough. At Wembley, the ‘selfish’ Robben once again proved that he’s still a world-class player.

Hart

Richards – Smalling (Jones) – Cahill – Baines

Parker – Barry (Milner)

Johnson (Downing) – Gerrard (Sturridge) – Young

Welbeck

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van Persie (Huntelaar)

Robben – Sneijder (Emanuelson) -Kuyt

de Jong – van Bommel

Pieters (Schaars) – Mathijsen – Heitinga – Boulahrouz (Vlaar)

Stekelenburg

Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine beat Israel 3-2. Young talent Andriy Yarmolenko scored twice, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk played 90 minutes.

Aouate

Spungin (Gabbai) – Ben Haim – Gershon – Ben Dayan (Tzedek)

Natcho – Cohen (Demari)

Melikson – Benayoun (Zehavi) – Rafaelov (Hemed)

Barda (Sahar)

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Voronin (Aliyev) – Devic (Milevskiy)

Konoplyanka – Rotan (Garmash) – Tymoshchuk – Yarmolenko

Selin – Khacheridi (Mandzyuk) – Mykhalyk – Gusev (Butko)

Shovkovskiy (Dikan)

Austria beat Finland 3-1, a good first home match for coach Marcel Koller. FCB midfielder David Alaba started and played 84 minutes, he had already left the pitch when the guests scored their only goal. The Austrian newspaper Kurier lauded Alaba, saying that he kept the tempo high with runs and passes and was always available to receive the ball, the website Laola1.at even called him the man of the match. A great evening for David Alaba.

Almer

Garics – Schiemer (Ortlechner) – Dragovic – Suttner

Baumgartlinger (Säumel) – Alaba(Pehlivan)

Arnautovic (Junuzovic) – Ivanschitz (Burgstaller) -Harnik

Janko (Hoffer)

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Pukki (Furuholm)

Hämäläinen (Kuqi) – Ring (Ojala)

Hetemaj (Riski) – Sparv – Eremenko

Arkivuo – Pasanen – Moisander (Toivio) – Raitala (Lampi)

Hradecky

Croatia lost the friendly against Sweden 1-3. Ivica Olic was a part of the starting lineup and played 45 minutes, Danijel Pranjic replaced the injured Vedran Corluka (availability against Bayern doubtful) after half an hour.

Pletikosa

Vida (Perisic) – Schildenfeld – Simunic – Corluka (Pranjic)

Srna – Dujmovic (Jelavic) – Modric (Vukojevic) – Rakitic

Mandzukic (Eduardo) – Olic (Kranjcar)

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Elmander (Guidetti)

Toivonen (Bajrami) – Ibrahimovic (Hysen) – Elm (Larsson)

Källström (Holmen) – Svensson (Wernbloom)

M.Olsson – J.Olsson – Mellberg – Granqvist

Isaksson

Not yet a Bayern player but Xherdan Shaqiri started for Switzerland against Argentina (with former FCB midfielder Jose Sosa). Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team played a good match, Shaqiri scored their lone goal and only lost because of two late Messi goals that were caused by individual mistakes by Werder Bremen defender Francois Affolter.

Benaglio (Wölfli)

Lichtsteiner (Ziegler) – Senderos – Affolter – Rodriguez

Inler – Dzemaili (Stocker)

Shaqiri – Xhaka – Frei (Derdiyok; Vitkievicz)

Mehmedi (Emeghara)____________________

Agüero – Messi

Maxi Rodriguez (Salvio) – Brana (Gago) – Mascherano – Sosa (Higuain)

Zabaleta – Garay – Fernandez – Campagnaro

Romero

To end this article with some information, it’s reported that Mario Gomez’ contract will be extended until 2016 very soon and that Jaroslav Drobny is set to become Bayern’s new backup keeper. In return, Nils Petersen might join Hamburg on loan. The striker himself says he wants to make it in Munich, joining another club on loan is an option but only if it’s a Bundesliga club that focuses on attacking, he refuses to give up completely and leave Bayern after one season.

“I already learned more in these nine months in Munich than I would’ve in three years in the second division.” – Nils Petersen

The German striker is anything but unhappy and spends a lot of time with Toni Kroos and especially Takashi Usami who, according to Petersen, is a brilliant bowler.