There were a total of 12 Gunners in friendly action for their countries on Wednesday night, read on for a comprehensive round up of how they fared.
Eduardo
Romania 1-2 Croatia
Eduardo marked his return to the national team by setting up Niko Kranjcar’s 75-minute winner in their friendly against Romania. The striker, whose last appearance for Croatia came over 12 months ago, was introduced just before the hour with the scores locked at 1-1. Fifteen minutes later, the 25-year-old produced a neat pass to set up Portsmouth’s Kranjcar to fire home Croatia’s second.
Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Samir Nasri
France 0-2 Argentina
Sagna and Gallas both played 90 minutes as France were deservedly beaten by Argentina at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome. Samir Nasri was an unused substitute and Gael Clichy was not present in the match-day squad. Newcastle’s Jonas Gutierrez opened the scoring four minutes before the interval before man of the match Lionel Messi added a second in the 83rd minute.
Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue
Turkey 1-1 Ivory Coast
Toure and Eboue were both involved as Chelsea star Didier Drogba struck his first international goal for over a year to salvage a creditable draw in Turkey. Striker Gokhan Unal fired the home side ahead after only 11 minutes and should have made it two just past the half-hour. It looked as though one goal would be enough for victory but Drogba swooped in second-half stoppage time to equalise.
Robin van Persie
Tunisia 1-1 Holland
Van Persie played the first half of Holland’s lacklustre draw in Tunisia. The contest remained goalless until the 62nd minute when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, on at half time, converted Rafael van der Vaart’s free-kick. However, the lead would only last four minutes as Jamelle Saihi produced a superb 25-yard strike to restore parity.
Aaron Ramsey, Lukasz Fabianski
Wales 0-1 Poland
Fabianski and Ramsey both played 45 minutes of Poland’s victory at the Millenium Stadium. The goalkeeper was replaced at half-time by Artur Boruc while the young midfielder was introduced at half time for West Ham starlet Jack Collison. Another substitute, Roger Guerreiro, finally broke the deadlock nine minutes from time to secure Poland’s win.
Nicklas Bendtner
Greece 1-1 Denmark
Bendtner was included in the Denmark squad that was held to a draw by former European champions Greece. After a goalless first half, Jonas Borring slid the visitors ahead after 49 minutes. But midway through the second half, new Portsmouth marksman Fanis Gekas stabbed home his 13th international goal to level the scores.
Johan Djourou
Switzerland 1-1 Bulgaria
Johan Djourou was involved as Switzerland were held to a home draw by Bulgaria. The visitors took a deserved lead shortly after the half- hour mark when Ivelin Popov slammed an effort past Marco Woelfli. Dimitar Berbatov should have made it two from close range moments later before Benjamin Huggel equalised in first-half stoppage time.
