International Round-Up - 13th November, 2005

Played for England
By Chris O'Brien
November 15 2005

Six Manchester United stars were in action on an action-packed weekend of international football. Wayne Rooney was on the scoresheet as England, marshalled by Rio Ferdinand, beat Argentina in Geneva, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo picked up a slight knee problem as Portugal swept aside Croatia.

England's sensational 3-2 victory over Argentina stole the headlines of an action packed weekend of international football. A late brace from Michael Owen turned a thrilling encounter on its head and passionate England fans who made the trip to Geneva were looking ahead to the 2006 World Cup with new-found optimism.

United's Rio Ferdinand started alongside John Terry at centre-half and played the full 90 minutes as he continues his improvement in form. Wayne Rooney, who terrorised the South American backline, also started the game and helped England cancel out a Hernan Crespo on 36 minutes. The teenager fired home after a knock-down from David Beckham only two minutes after Chelsea forward Crespo had broken the deadlock.

Walter Samuel restored Argentina's lead eight minutes into the second-half, and England seemed to be heading for a narrow defeat. However, a sensational closing four minutes saw Newcastle's Owen head home a Steven Gerrard cross before nodding a Joe Cole passed a helpless Roberto Abbondanzieri. A superb result for England, now second favourites to win next year's World Cup, with Alan Smith and Phillip Neville warming the bench throughout.

In Glasgow, Darren Fletcher and the out-on-loan defender Jonathan Spector were both in action as Scotland held USA to a drab 1-1 draw at Hampden Park. Flying high in 7th in FIFA's bemusing World Rankings, the United States continued their preparation for the World Cup by taking the lead through a ninth minute Josh Wolff penalty. The majority of the 26,708 were cheered before half-time as Heart of Midfielder defender Andy Webster headed home leaving unused substitute Tim Howard wondering if he could have done any better than the experienced Yanks 'keeper Kasey Keller.

Slight worry from Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo being substituted on 76 minutes as his country cruised to a 2-0 victory over Croatia. It was probably nothing more than caution from manager Luiz Felipe Scolari as Ronaldo knocked his left knee, but there will still be concern in Salford. United's troubled teenager assisted Pedro Pauleta's well-taken goal which followed the opening strike from Armando Petit.

Edwin Van Der Sar, who became the Netherlands' most-capped player on the weekend, played 45 minutes as the Dutch were dissappointing at home to Italy. The United 'keeper, who has really impressed in the Premiership, conceded twice before the scheduled introduction of debutant Henk Timme at the half-time interval. Marco van Basten's lost his first game as coach as Holland went down by three goals to one.

Meanwhile, on Friday evening Kieran Richardson represented England at under-21 level before the senior internationals got underway in a crucial game for Peter Taylor's side. A late strike from Darren Ambrose helped England to a 1-1 draw with France in their European Championship play-off at White Hart Lane with an impressive 34,494 in attendance.

Congratulations to all those earning honours for their respective countries.