The past week saw ten Fiorentina players go out on international duty for their respective countries. Here, we take a look at how those players performed.
Facundo Roncaglia (Argentina)
Facundo Roncaglia was selected in Argentina’s squad for their World Cup qualification games against Brazil and Colombia.
The game against Brazil was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday but torrential rain in Buenos Aires forced the game to be put back by 24 hours to Friday evening. The game finished 1-1, as Argentina dominated much of the match.
Roncaglia put in an exceptional performance, as he managed to do something that most players in La Liga and the Champions League have been unable to do this season; keep Neymar quiet for the whole 90 minutes, restricting him to several long range shots at most. Roncaglia did however pick up a booking which meant he was suspended for the game against Colombia on Tuesday evening, which Argentina won 1-0.
Matias Fernandez (Chile)
Matias Fernandez featured in both of Chile’s World Cup qualification matches against Colombia and Uruguay this week.
Fernandez played the full 90 minutes, as Chile drew 1-1 with Colombia in Santiago on Thursday evening. He was influential in the first goal, as Arturo Vidal headed Fernandez’s curled free-kick past the Colombia ‘keeper, David Ospina, from six yards out just before half-time, to give Chile a deserved lead. Fernandez went close himself in the second-half, forcing a good save from Ospina, before James Rodriguez equalised, converting a saved effort from Luis Muriel of Sampdoria.
In Montevideo on Tuesday evening, Fernandez was only a 66th minute substitute, as the Chileans suffered their first defeat of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat. There was little the Viola man could do to alter the result, coming on to the pitch after all three Uruguay goals had been scored.
Milan Badelj and Nikola Kalinic (Croatia)
In preparation for Euro 2016, an injury afflicted Croatia took on Russia at the Stadion Olimp on Tuesday evening. Milan Badelj and Nikola Kalinic both featured in the match, with the former playing the full 90 minutes and the latter 75 minutes.
Both Viola players put in impressive performances, as Badelj showed authority in the midfield area in the absence of his more celebrated midfield colleagues, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic. Kalinic also impressed, continuing his excellent goal-scoring form, by netting Croatia’s equaliser as they ran out 3-1 winners against a Russia side which had won 5 games on the bounce prior to this fixture.
Davide Astori (Italy)
Davide Astori’s call up to the Azzurri squad for the friendlies against Belgium and Romania is richly deserved given his form this season. Although he was an unused substitute against Belgium and Romania, it is clear that Astori is in the thoughts of Azzurri coach, Antonio Conte, especially given the current form of several of the defensive options in the Azzurri squad.
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Poland)
Jakub Blaszczykowski played only 12 minutes of Poland’s friendly fixture against fellow Euro 2016 qualifiers Iceland before being substituted due to a hamstring injury. The Viola right-sided player has indicated that he will be out of action for up to 3-4 weeks, which will be a huge blow to the Viola with an intensive run of Serie A and Europa League fixtures coming up.
Ciprian Tatarusanu (Romania)
Ciprian Tatarusanu played the full game for Romania in their international friendly against Italy. The Viola goalkeeper has been a crucial part of a Romania defensive unit that had only conceded two goals in their last eleven games however, in a game where he was rarely tested, he was unable to keep the Azzurri at bay, as a penalty from Claudio Marchisio and a header from Manolo Gabbiadini saw him beaten twice in the 2-2 draw.
Nenad Tomovic (Serbia)
Serbia played the Czech Republic on Friday evening, and were unable to halt the disastrous form they showed in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign which saw them finish second bottom of their group with 4 points out of a possible 24. They slumped to a 4-1 defeat against the Czech team however, the score-line slightly skews the actual result, as the Czech’s scored twice in the last ten minutes as the Serbians pushed for an equaliser. Tomovic played 82 minutes of the match, coming off just after the Czech’s scored their third goal, but put in a solid performance.
Josep Ilicic (Slovenia)
Slovenia played Ukraine in a Euro 2016 double header play-off during the international break, with the Ukrainians emerging as the victors 3-1 on aggregate.
Josep Ilicic was named in the starting line-up as Slovenia travelled to Lviv for the first leg of the play-off, but was substituted after 63 minutes after an indifferent performance as Ukraine emerged 2-0 winners. In the second leg, Ilicic came on as a 67th minute substitute, as the Slovenians looked to score the second goal which would take the tie into extra time. Alas, for the Viola player, it was not to be, as Andriy Yarmolenko scored a crucial away goal on the counter-attack to end Slovenia’s hopes of qualification.
Federico Bernardeschi (Italy Under 21)
Federico Bernardeschi missed Italy U-21’s 1-1 draw in Serbia on Friday evening after his sending-off against the Republic of Ireland in October. He did however return to the side against Lithuania on Tuesday, which saw the Azzurrini emerge as 2-0 winners, thanks to outstanding goals from Domenico Berardi and Marco Benassi.
Bernardeschi was influential throughout the game, and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. The Viola man had a certain goal prevented by an excellent save by the Lithuanian goalkeeper, Edvinas Gertmonas, towards the end of the first half, whilst he struck the post midway through the second half.
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