Chelsea FC updates ahead of Premier League return

Chelsea FC players have traveled far and wide over the last ten days playing for their respective countries. Here’s a round up of how they got on.

Gary Cahill captained England to a memorable 3-2 victory over Germany in Berlin. The Three Lions came back from 2-0 down to stun the reigning world champions. Eric Dier’s injury-time winner secured the win with goals from Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy before that to lead England’s comeback. However Cahill was an unused sub in England’s 2-1 defeat to Holland at Wembley on Tuesday night. Marco Van Ginkel, who is on loan at PSV, came on for the last ten minutes in the same game.

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Thibaut Courtois was in action as Belgium took on Portugal, a game in which the hosts won 2-1 thanks to Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo. Former blue Romelu Lukaku was on target as well as FIFA’s number one ranked team lost their first game since last summer. The game was switched to Portugal due to the terrorist attacks that occurred in Brussels last week. A minute’s silence was observed before the game as a mark of respect to the people that lost their lives.

Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta and Pedro all featured over their two friendlies against Italy and Romania. Pedro started against Romania in their 0-0 draw in Cluj whilst Azpilicueta didn’t get on. In Udine, rolls were reversed as Azpilicueta started the game which also ended in a draw (1-1) with Pedro missing out. Fabregas featured in both games including captaining the side during the Italy clash.

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There were mixed results for our South American players in World Cup qualifying and an Olympic play-off. Willian played the whole game for Brazil whilst Oscar was an unused sub in their 2-2 draw away to Paraguay in which they were 2-0 down with 11 minutes to go. This result leaves Brazil in sixth place, four points behind leaders Uruguay and Ecuador. The top four teams qualify for the finals whilst the fifth placed team goes into a play off.

Juan Cuadrado, currently on loan at Juventus, played 85 minutes as his Colombia side secured a 3-1 win over Ecuador. Elsewhere, USA under-23s were left heartbroken as they missed out on a place at this summer’s Olympic games after losing their 2nd leg 2-1 against Colombia, going down 3-2 on aggregate. Matt Miazga started the game but was sent off late on as he was adjudged to deny a goalscoring opportunity.

Asmir Begovic played an hour for Bosnia as they recorded a 2-0 win over Switzerland whilst Branislav Ivanovic captained Serbia to a 1-0 victory away to Estonia with Nemanja Matic playing 64 minutes of the contest. Andreas Christensen followed up his first start for Denmark last week with another 90 minutes in a 1-0 defeat to Scotland at Hampden Park.

HERNING, DENMARK – MARCH 24: Andreas Christensen of Denmark walks on to the pitch prior to the international friendly match between Denmark and Iceland at MCH Arena on March 24, 2016 in Herning, Denmark. (Photo by Lars Ronbog / FrontZoneSport via Getty Images) /

Bertrand Traore started for Burkina Faso in their 1-0 win over Uganda in a Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Jonathan Pitroipa’s penalty was enough to move the Stallions up to 2nd in their group. They then travelled to their closest rivals Uganda and were held to a 0-0 draw which kept them second in the group.

Ghana were held to a 0-0 draw by Mozambique in a AFCON qualifying game. Baba Rahman started the game at left whilst Christian Atsu, who is on loan at Malaga, missed out with a toe injury. Ghana, now managed by former Blues boss Avram Grant, won their first three qualifying games but had to settle for a draw this time around.