The World Cup 2014 Qualifiers are up and running, giving Fantasy managers plenty to fret about as our assets turn out for their respective nations. With plenty of games right across the globe last night, we cast an eye over the performances of our Premier League protagonists:
Nikica Jelavic needed just five minutes to serve a reminder of his abilities ahead of Everton’s strong run of fixtures. Jelavic climbed off the bench as a replacement for Eduardo midway through the second-half of Croatia’s home clash with Macedonia and headed home the only goal of the game. Wales were felled 2-0 at home by Belgium, thanks to a couple of goalscoring Premier League centre-halves. Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen grabbed a goal apiece, with the latter highlighting his set-piece capabilities by firing home a free-kick late on.
West Brom’s Zoltan Gera was handed the first 45 minutes in Hungary’s 5-0 win away to Andorra. The Baggies midfielder slotted home a spot-kick just after the half-hour mark to help his side to the top of Group Four. Holland saw off Turkey 2-0 at home as they try to put their dire Euro 2012 display behind them – Robin Van Persie opened the scoring for the Dutch to maintain his fantastic form up front.
Gylfi Sigurdsson helped Iceland to a 2-0 win over Norway last night. The midfielder put his Tottenham frustrations behind him to set up Alfred Finnbogason to fire home his side’s second with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. Edin Dzeko continued the recent form that has seen him score twice and provide an assist in the first three Gameweeks for City. The forward played the full 90 minutes for Bosnia away to Liechtenstein and grabbed a hat-trick in an 8-1 romp.
England got off to the perfect start away to Moldova last night with a Frank Lampard brace helping seal a very comfortable victory. Jermain Defoe, James Milner and Leighton Baines rounded off the scoring. Five players supplied the assists for Roy Hodgson’s side – Tom Cleverley, Glen Johnson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and subs Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck were the providers in the 5-0 win. John Terry is thought to be nursing a twisted ankle ahead of the Ukraine match next midweek, while Steven Gerrard was taken off at half-time as a precaution.
France have Abou Diaby to thank for a 1-0 win away to Finland. A shining light in Arsenal’s recent win at Liverpool, the midfielder was afforded the full 90 minutes and fired the only goal of the game on 20 minutes for Didier Deschamps’ side. Diaby’s Gunners team mate Santi Cazorla was also on target in Spain’s hammering of Saudi Arabia. The summer signing from Malaga opened the scoring as Vicente Del Bosque’s side racked up a 5-0 friendly win. Tottenham’s new boy Clint Dempsey was amongst the goals last night but his efforts were not enough to stop the USA losing 2-1 away to Jamaica
