International Round Up

By David Hobbs
July 11 2005

A number of Manchester United players have been helping their national team qualify for the forthcoming World Cup. The tournament for the most prestigious football trophy kicks off in just one year's time in Germany and everyone wants to take part.

Darren Fletcher's Scotland lifted themselves off the foot of their able with a 2-0 win over Moldova and were made to work for it. Christian Dailly and James McFadden secured the victory for former United assistant Walter Smith in front of a Hampden Park crowd.

"There was a little bit of pressure on us at the end because of tiredness, but I thought we deserved to win," said Smith.

The Republic of Ireland let a 2-0 lead slip as they drew 2-2 with Israel. Ian Harte opened the scoring before Robbie Keane doubled his side's advantage following a fantastic ball from Andy Reid.

United skipper Roy Keane was suspended for the fixture, but John O'Shea flew the Red Devils flag.

Ruud van Nistelrooy helped Marco van Basten's Holland side record a 2-0 victory over Romania courtesy of goals from Dirk Kuyt and Arjen Robben. Van Nistelrooy was taken off after the hour mark.

As previously reported on ManUtdWeb, Cristiano Ronaldo hit the back of the net in Portuga's 2-0 win against Slovakia.

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]