Who Impressed in this Weekend’s Internationals?

Italy's Mario Balotelli

This weekend saw the return of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.  However it was arguably a friendly that generated the most worldwide interest.

It is a classic match up between the world’s two most successful international football teams.  Italy have won the World Cup four times, and the only team to have won more is Brazil with five.

As perennial World cup contenders, they have met twice in the final, most recently in the 1994 World Cup final, where a missed penalty from Italian talisman Roberto Baggio handed Brazil the trophy.

In Thursday’s friendly match in Geneva, Italy’s current most iconic striker, for both the right reasons and the wrong reasons, stole the headlines with a tremendous long range strike in the key moment of the game.

As was highlighted by his sublime goal, Mario Balotelli is well in form since his move from Manchester City to Milan. 8 goals in 8 appearances is a good initial return on the fee paid to bring him back to Milan, a deal which looks like a much better investment than it did a few months ago.

Another man with something to prove to the English media is Neymar.  Having had a quiet game against the English national side, questions were immediately asked about his ability against European defences.  Against Italy he contributed an assist for Oscar’s goal, and looked a menace throughout.

One man the English press are impressed with is goalkeeper Julio Cesar.  He was helpless for both Italy’s goals, and against a keeper of lesser ability, Italy would surely have won.

In other matches around the world, arguably the world’s leading man on form, Gareth Bale, was considered the primary threat for Wales, and in some quarters the only threat against an under-performing Scottish team.  However Bale was withdrawn at half time with his team 1-0 down, in a match Wales eventually went on to win 2-1.

The Spanish national side can be considered to have been on form for the last 7 years, having won every major international available since 2008.  However they stuttered to a 1-1 draw against Finland this weekend, their second draw of the campaign, leaving them adrift of group leaders France and in danger of needing to qualify via the playoffs.

With Germany playing Kazakhstan, England playing San Marino and Holland against Estonia, none were greatly troubled in routine wins and no players had a great chance to impress against lower level opposition.

Portugal have struggled in these qualifiers, leaving it late to secure a 3-3 draw with two late goals against Israel.  Surprisingly, despite his team scoring 3 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo was not amongst the scorers, though he did lay on an assist for Helder Postiga.

With another round of international matches to come during the week, players have another opportunity to impress for their countries and make our On Form list.