Oscar and Salah scores for their Countries
In a busy midweek where many Chelsea players played for their respective international teams in international friendlies, Oscar and Salah were the highlights as they scored for their countries, Brazil and Egypt, respectively.
Jose Mourinho’s complaint about Chelsea playing on Saturday instead of Sunday is pretty much justified considering the fact that some important Chelsea players could not be rested in the midweek, especially Azpilicueta, Matic, and Ivanovic, who played the full 90 minutes. As the Blues face Spurs in an important fixture in the context of the Premier League, Mourinho doesn’t want fatigue to be a spoiler for his team.
Brazil 5-0 South Africa
There were four Chelsea players participating in this match, in which Neymar scored a hat-trick. Oscar and David Luiz started the match. Oscar netted Brazil’s first in the 10th minute with a composed chip over the South African goalkeeper. Luiz played for a little over an hour before being substituted. Ramires and Willian came on as substitutes in the second half for Oscar and Hulk. Ramires gave a box to box performance typical of him, also earning the game’s only yellow card. Willian came close to scoring when his curled effort narrowly missed the target.
Bosnia 0-2 Egypt
Mohamed Salah stole the show as he created the first and poached the second for his country to stun World Cup bound Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Czech Republic 2-2 Norway
It was not such a good outing for Czech Republic Player of the Year Petr Cech, who let a driven shot slip through his hands into the goal.
Belgium 2-2 Ivory Coast
There were three Chelsea Belgians involved: Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard, and Romelu Lukaku. Courtois let two goals past him, including a goal by ex-Chelsea fan-favourite Didier Drogba and a 92nd-minute equalizer. Belgium struggled to protect their 2-0 lead. As promised by manager Marc Wilmots, Eden Hazard played less than the last half hour. Romelu Lukaku also made a substitute appearance.
England 1-0 Denmark
England gave a decent performance, with ex-Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge scoring the only goal. Gary Cahill and Ashley Cole were the Chelsea players who started the game, while Frank Lampard was benched. Cole was substituted at halftime for debutant Luke Shaw, while Cahill had an average performance. He played exactly as if there was no John Terry next to him but Chris Smalling as his partner.
Other Chelsea players:
Cesar Azpilicueta started and played the whole game in the right back position in a 1-0 victory against Italy. Andre Schurrle also had an outing with Germany as he came on as a half-time substitute for veteran Miroslav Klose. Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic played the full game for Serbia against Ireland in a 2-1 victory. Demba Ba played the whole match in Senegal’s 1-1 draw against Mali. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon 1–5 Portugal) and Christian Atsu (Ghana 0–1 Montenegro) started for their countries but lost.
Most Chelsea youth players except Patrick Bamford got some playing time, at least. Chelsea young talent and U19 captain Lewis Baker scored a penalty.