Arsenal International Round-Up: Miracle Alexis braces Chile in WCQ

Since many of Arsenal’s players have been away on international duty and the break is drawing to a close, let’s take a look at how each player has performed.

First, the current players:

Alexis

Alexis was featured in one of Chile’s two matches during the break. As we have discussed extensively on the site, injury concerns kept Alexis out of Chile’s 0-0 draw against Colombia. Due to a medical miracle, the injury Alexis sustained during training dissipated and he was selected to start against Uruguay. In the match Alexis scored in the 60th and 76th minutes to secure a 3-1 victory for La Rojas.

Mohamed Elneny

In Egypt's only match during the break, Elneny played for the entire match against Ghana. In the 2-0 victory for The Pharaohs the goals were scored by Mohamed Salah and Abdalla El Said.

Olivier Giroud

Olivier was featured in both of France’s matches during the break. Giroud played all 90 minutes during France’s 2-1 victory over Sweden. In the following match against the Ivory Coast, Giroud was a substitute in the 63rd minute but the game ended in a 0-0 draw.

Rob Holding

Rob’s playing time came against French national team. He played 81 minutes as England Under-21s lost 3-2. Duncan Watmore and Lewis Baker kept England in the match, but France’s set piece prowess proved to be too much as Les Bleus scored an additional two goals to secure an important victory.

Alex Iwobi

Iwobi played for 75 minutes during Nigeria’s 3-1 victory over Algeria. Even though he didn’t score, Alex’s highlight from this match came in the form of a rainbow flick. The duo from Chelsea, Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel, scored a brace and a goal respectively to secure the victory for the Super Eagles.

Laurent Koscielny

Like Giroud, Koscielny started and completed both matches for France: the 2-1 victory over Sweden and the 0-0 draw against France.

Nacho Monreal

In Spain’s 4-0 victory against Macedonia Nacho scored his first international goal. Just before the end of the match he completed a beautiful combination play to put a volley into the back of the net. In the 2-2 draw against England at Wembley, Monreal was on the bench but did not play

Shkodran Mustafi

Shkodran played an important role as Germany did not concede a goal during the international break. He helped Germany keep another clean sheet, completing a goalless draw against Italy. Mustafi was on the bench for Germany's 8-0 victory over San Marino.

David Ospina

David denied Chile of any goals during Colombia’s first match this break. As a result Colombia is still in a qualifying position for the World Cup. Ospina played another 90 minutes as Colombia lost 3-0 to Argentina. Messi grabbed a goal early on and Argentina added two more before the game concluded.

Aaron Ramsey

Aaron played for all 90 minutes during Wales’ 1-1 draw against Serbia at home. Bale grabbed the first goal but they were unable to find a winning goal after Serbia equalized.

Granit Xhaka

Granit, who secured his 50th senior international cap, and the Swiss National Team secured a 2-0 victory against the Faroe Islands. With this victory, the Swiss maintain their position at the top of their World Cup qualifying group.

Theo Walcott

In England’s second match, the 2-2 draw against Spain, Theo played for 63 minutes. He was on the bench in their first match against Scotland.

Now for the players currently on loan:

Joel Campbell

Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell came on in the 67th minute to scored twice in Los Ticos’ 4-0 dominant victory against the struggling United States’ Men’s National Team. The victory gives Costa Rica six points and first place in the CONCACAF Hexagonal while the lowly United States has no points and is in last place with Trinidad and Tobago.

Calum Chambers

At the Short Fuse we are always excited to provide any update about our budding superstar Calum Chambers. Calum played for the entire match as England Under-21 National Team won 3-2 against Italy. Calum contributed to the buildup play for the winning goal as his header was deflected by the Italian keeper and Jack Stephens was able to slot it home. Calum did not play in England’s 3-2 defeat to the French U-21 National Team.

Wojciech Szczesny

In Poland’s friendly against Slovenia Szczesny played for the entire second half during a 1-1 draw. Despite the positive reports about his time at Roma, Szczesny has not been the first choice goalkeeper for Poland since the summer.

Jack Wilshere

Alas, we have arrived at Jack Wilshere. Unfortunately, Jack has not played for England since he left Arsenal on loan at the beginning of the season.

Overall, this was a pretty unremarkable international break for Arsenal. The performances by Alexis and Joel Campbell are the standouts among several easy victories and draws.