Villarreal had five players travel away from El Madrigal over the international break that will come back into the squad to face Granada, all having experienced varying degrees of success.
Bojan Jokic linked-up with his Slovenian teammates for the latest two games on the road toward Euro 2016, Samu Castillejo and newest signing Denis Suarez featured for Spain in their Under-21 Championship qualifier, while Cedric Bakambu and Eric Bailly made the trip for the qualifying stages of the African Cup of Nations.
Bojan Jokic
Switzerland 3 Slovenia 2, Slovenia 1 Estonia 0
Jokic will return to Villarreal having played two full games in four days. The Slovenian international was a starter first in an away game against Switzerland and took part in what was this international breaks’ most exciting game.
Slovenia took the lead on the stroke oftime to stun the home crowd, and would then add a second just after the resumption of play. The Slovenians looked on track to spring the upset until substitute Josip Drmic pulled his team back in the 80th minute. From there it was all Switzerland and following Valentin Stocker’s equaliser, La Nati would steal the points with another Drmic goal four minutes into added time.
Slovenia returned home to face an Estonian side that had beaten them already in this qualifying campaign. It was not as entertaining a game as that against the Swiss. but Srečko Katanec’s men scored the game’s only goal through Robert Beric to secure the three points.
Interesting to note is that in both games Jokic combined with Rene Krhin, who plays his club football for Granada, Villarreal’s next opponents.
The results put Slovenia into third place on the Group E ladder. England top the group with Switzerland in second.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIyV7tfAcNA
Denis Suarez & Samu Castillejo
Estonia under-21 0 Spain under-21 2
Samu Castillejo and new boy Denis Suarez also faced an Estonian outfit, playing a part in the Spain under-21 squad’s 2-0 win.
La Rojita controlled the match but had to wait until the 82nd minute to break the deadlock. Everton’s Gerard Deulofeu cut into the box from the right and beat three players, before squaring the ball to Jose Gaya for the opener. Deulofeu would score himself, as the captain stepped up to take a penalty in the second minute of added time to secure the points.
Suarez started the game from the beginning playing in an attacking-midfield role, behind Barcelona’s Munir El Haddadi. He lasted until the 80th minute, picking up a yellow card in the process before being replaced by Valencia’s Santi Mina.
Castillejo had to settle for a place on the bench, but came on as the first substitute in the 61st minute. It was his cross that drew the penalty for the young Spaniards, as Mina was hauled down inside the box trying to get on the end of the delivery.
Spain’s under-21 team sits fourth in their group having only played one match. Croatia top group six with two wins from as many games.
Cedric Bakambu
Central African Republic 2 Republic of Congo 0
Bakambu’s highly fancied Congolese sitde fell to a shock loss at the hands of the Central African Republic in the African Cup of Nations qualifying.
At the Stade Barthelemy Boganda under pouring rain, C.A.R. stunned their visitors from the penalty spot after 23 minutes, before doubling the lead just 10 minutes later. Congo offered little going forward, despite featuring an attack possessing Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie, Bakambu and Circle Brugge’s Junior Kabananga.
The result leaves them third in the group, tied on points with C.A.R, and one point behind leaders Angola.
The top placed side in each group will enter the tournament proper, while the second placed team may make it through with enough points compared to the runners-up of the other groups.
Bakambu was the only Spanish-based player to take to the pitch.
Eric Bailly
Sierra Leone 0 Ivory Coast 0
In Group I Eric Bailly’s Ivory Coast had to travel to Nigeria to face Sierra Leone and came away with little to show for their efforts.
The game had been moved due to Sierra Leone suffering from the Ebola outbreak and little can be said about the match itself. The Elephants were missing many big name players, including Manchester City pair Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony, while midfielders Cheick Tiote and Max Gradel also missed the game.
Bailly lined up in the centre of defence and dealt with everything the opposition could muster, yet despite his team holding the bulk of possession they could not break the deadlock.
Ivory Coast sit second in their group after one match, trailing leaders Sudan by three points, who have played twice,.
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