Zlatan Ibrahimovic grabs a goal and assist as Sweden see off a defiant Iceland. Fernando Torres is amongst the scorers as Spain hammer South Korea 4-1, while Wesley Sneijder limps out of Holland’s win over Slovakia with an ankle problem:
Holland 2 Slovakia 0
Bert Van Marwijk’s side bounced back from a 2-1 home defeat by Bulgaria by recording a straightforward win over Slovakia last night. Fantasy managers will be intrigued to see Robin Van Persie handed the lone forward role, though the Arsenal skipper was replaced by Jan Klaas-Huntelaar just before 70 minutes – Dirk Kuyt also dropped out of the starting XI, replaced by Ibrahim Afellay on the left. The Dutch took the lead through an early own goal before Huntelaar’s instant impact set up Rafael Van der Vaart for the second on 75 minutes.
While Van der Vaart impressed, with another strike hitting the woodwork, his presence on the pitch only came as a result of an injury to Wesley Sneijder. The latter limped off after landing awkwardly on an ankle but, much to the relief of his 24% of owners in the McDonald’s game, Van Merwijk revealed post match the Inter man “will be fine”.
Wilfred Bouma started at centre-half in place of the injured Joris Mathijsen but was taken off at half time after a clash of heads with Johnny Heitinga and sent to hospital for scans. Van Merwijk had some good news on Mathijsen’s fitness, suggesting the defender may be in line to return in time for the opener against Denmark.
Holland Starting XI: Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Bouma (Vlaar 46), Schaars; Van Bommel, De Jong; Robben (Narsingh 84), Sneijder (Van der Vaart 51), Afellay (Kuyt 79); Van Persie (Huntelaar 68).
Sweden 3 Iceland 2
Sweden lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation for the match against Iceland, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic handed a roving role behind Markus Rosenberg up front. The AC Milan man was quick off the mark, volleying home from a Seb Larsson cross with just a couple of minutes on the clock, before providing an assist for Ola Tiovonen to fire home on 14 minutes. Christian Wilhelmsson climbed off the bench to net his side’s third, though at the back, Sweden looked shaky after shipping two to their determined visitors. Jonas Olsson (priced at 4.0 in the McDonald’s game) slotted in alongside Olof Mellberg at the heart of defence and continues to seem a likely starter ahead of the three Group D games against Ukraine, England and France.
Sweden Starting XI: Isaksson; Granqvist, Mellberg, J Olsson (Antonsson 81), Safari; Larsson (Bajrami 46), Elm (Holmen 62), Källström (Wernbloom 46); Ibrahimovic (Wilhelmsson 62), Toivonen; Rosenberg (Hysen 46).
Spain 4 South Korea 1
Frustratingly for Fantasy managers, Vicente Del Bosque once again left out his Barcelona contingent as Spain squared up to South Korea. In addition to that, he also handed some of the players omitted from his final 23 the chance of a run out, making it doubly difficult to second-guess his thinking. Fernando Torres started up front and nodded the Spaniards ahead within 11 minutes, while second-half replacement Alvaro Negredo also got amongst the goals. Xabi Alonso slotted home a spot-kick and Santi Cazorla vindicated his place in the first XI by firing in a clever free-kick.
Spain Starting XI: Reina (Casillas 80); Arbeloa, Albiol, Ramos (Dominguez 57), Monreal; Beñat, Cazorla (Adrian 57), Alonso (Bruno 65); Mata (Soldado 57), Torres (Negredo 57), Silva.
Other News
Joachim Low has revealed Germany’s tactics in their opener against Portugal may well be influenced by Cristiano Ronaldo. Low admitted he plans to field Philipp Lahm at left-back for Thursday’s friendly with Israel but, despite the full-back’s strong performance against the Real Madrid man in the recent Champions League Semi-Final, his national boss feels the task of nullifying Ronaldo’s threat is more than a one man job:
In Poland, I will decide where Lahm plays.But I want a decision independent of where he played for Bayern, and it makes no sense to put one player against Ronaldo. Three or four players have to stop him. I don’t want one-on-ones with him.
Lahm’s versatility on either flank looks likely to pose problems for Fantasy managers, then. If he is fielded on the right, Marcel Schmelzer should start on the opposite flank, whereas a move to the left would likely leave Jerome Boateng in pole position to take the spare full-back role.
Bastian Schweinsteiger missed training yesterday and is said to be struggling to overcome a calf problem. The Bayern Munich midfielder is expected to miss the Israel match due to the injury, though Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff is optimistic he will recover in time for the tournament opener with Portugal:
“We are fully confident that it will work out. We are sure he will be ready for the first group game. It is not the same as with Michael Ballack (in 2008). He had a recurring problem so he knew how to cope with it. This is just a one-off knock and we all hope he recovers.
Fantasy owners of Roman Shirokov were handed some good news yesterday. The Russia midfielder was subbed off in Tuesday’s goalless draw with a reported injury but it seems the problem was merely a slight knock, with Dick Advocaat withdrawing the player as a precautionary measure. Priced at 6.0 in the McDonald’s game, Shirokov – who has 7.1% owners, more than any midfielder or forward in the squad – was expected to return to training on Wednesday.
Giovanni Trapattoni has admitted that both Shay Given and John O’Shea must prove their fitness in order to be selected for the Republic of Ireland’s opener against Croatia. Given has been troubled by a knee problem, while O’Shea has ankle and calf issues to deal with and their manager revealed the duo will have to play in Monday’s friendly against Hungary in order to come into consideration. Given’s owners, in particular, will be keen for a recovery – priced at 4.5, he offers a cheap route into the backline and currently holds over 9% ownership in the McDonald’s game.
Vassilis Torrisidis will not be risked for Greece’s upcoming friendly with Armenia. The right-back limped off after opening the scoring in Saturday’s draw against Slovenia and is set to skip Thursday’s match – Sokratis Papastathopoulos is expected to move from centre-half to cover, affording Kyriakos Papadopoulos a return to the heart of defence. Sotiris Ninis is likely to feature after shaking off a shoulder problem.
Tomas Rosicky revealed his recovery from a calf problem is still ongoing. The Arsenal man has failed to feature for the Czech Republic in recent friendlies and is expected to miss out on Friday’s match against Hungary – something of a worry for his 21% of McDonald’s owners:
I joined the other boys in certain parts of the training session and it looked good. Since my injury I have been able to play with the ball and to kick it without problems. I am not afraid of the break in playing. On the contrary, it can help me a bit as I played a lot this season. I believe everything will be OK.
Having only just written Gareth Barry off from his Euro 2012 plans, Roy Hodgson may well be facing further midfield woe. Frank Lampard broke down with a thigh injury in England training yesterday and will undergo scans later today to ascertain the extent of the problem – Jordan Henderson is on standby to step in if the Chelsea man’s prognosis proves to be a gloomy one.
