On Thursday night, we saw Martinelli score his first goal for Brazil. He was one of the few bright sparks in a game which saw a lot of chances from both side, but ultimately it was Luis Diaz's headers which won the game. Gabriel also gave a solid performance at the back, and looks like he is forming a good partnership with Marquinhos to look out in the future. It leaves Brazil fifth in FIFA World Cup 26 qualifying. It's important to note that Gabriel Jesus wasn't in the squad, but a lot of people around the Brazil set up feel he might be called for their next match.
For Italy, Jorginho played a solid hour of their 5-2 win against North Macedonia but missed a first-half penalty. Normally his record from the spot is really good, but he couldn't succeed this time. Next up for Jorginho and Italy is Ukraine, with both the nations currently level on points.
David Raya and Jakub Kiwior also played their matches respectively for Spain and Poland. Spain came out victorious in their 3-1 win against Cyprus, whereas Poland drew 1-1 against Czech Republic.
Both Saka and Rice came off the bench in England's comfortable 2-0 win at home to Malta. The Three Lions sit comfortable at the top of their Group with 19 points from seven games. Both of them didn't have particularly much to do as Malta hardly posed as threats for the English team. It's worth noting that both of them are injury free after the game, and that could have been the best outcome for Gooners pretty much out of this game.
Germany faced off Turkey and lost 3-2 in an international friendly, where we saw Kai Havertz start and play a full 90 minutes for his country. He would end up with mixed emotions about the evening which started promisingly for him as he got on the scoresheet just after the 4 min mark. However, it was his handball in the penalty area which proved to be costly as they lost by a solitary goal in an end-to-end contest.
France put 14 goals against Gibraltar completely dominating the game. William Saliba didn’t start but was brought on for the last 10 minutes of the game. He completed 100% of his passes and even though he wasn’t on the pitch for long, it was good to see him get some minutes for his country and in such a historic win.
Well it's good for the boys to have a taste of international matches before we resume the action in the Premier League next week. One of the best things out of this probably is no new injury and that's all we can hope for. Good bye for now.