Liverpool players are involved in various internationals this weekend – mainly World-Cup qualifiers – here’s a round-up of how they’ve fared.
Steven Gerrard played 70 minutes for England in their 4-0 win over Northern Ireland. Jamie Carragher was an unused substitute, with ex-red Michael Owen scoring one of the goals.
In the same qualifying group, Jerzy Dudek kept a clean sheet in Warsaw as Poland won 8-0 against Azerbaijan.
Wednesday sees England and Poland switch opponents.
Former red player John Toshack, and his assistant Roy Evans – former Liverpool manager suffered a defeat in their first game in charge of Wales. Austria beat them 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium.
The Czech Republic and Finland were involved in a seven-goal thriller with the Czechs just taking the three points in a 4-3 win. Liverpool’s Milan Baros had put the Czechs ahead after 7 minutes, scoring against a Finnish defence featuring Liverpool’s Sami Hyypia. Ex-Red Jari Litmanen scored Finland’s first goal.
Steve Finnan played the whole game for the Republic of Ireland in their qualifier in Israel. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. In the same qualifying group, France and Switzerland played out a goalless draw, Liverpool’s Alou Diarra, an unused French substitute. Diarra has never actually played for Liverpool – bought by Houllier and loaned straight back again for unknown and unexplained reasons – and wants to sever all his links in the summer. Meanwhile Stephane Henchoz, who left the Reds in the winter transfer window came on for the obligatory 90th-minute eating-up-time tactic for the Swiss.
Luis Garcia made his Spanish debut in a friendly against China. Coming on at half-time, he was unlucky not to score, with a long-range shot hitting the bar. Spain are playing a World-Cup qualifier themselves against Serbia and Montenegro in Belgrade next week.