England suffer defeat in Paris
International round-up
Under-21 review
FA charge Mascherano
Counago red card upheld
Gretna release 22 players
All four ‘home’ nations played international friendlies this evening. David Beckham won his 100th England cap but could not prevent Fabio Capello’s men from losing 0-1 to France in Paris. Franck Ribery scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on 32 minutes after England goalkeeper David James brought down Nicolas Anelka in the area.
George Burley’s first game as Scotland boss ended in a 1-1 draw against Croatia at Hampden. Niko Kranjcar scored for the visitors after 10 minutes but a Kenny Miller strike on the half-hour mark restored parity.
Freddy Eastwood scored either side of half-time as Wales beat Luxembourg 0-2 at the Stade Josy Barthel.
UEFA president Michel Platini presented Northern Ireland striker David Healy with an award for scoring a record 13 goals during the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Healy received the award before the friendly against Georgia at Windsor Park. Healy was on the scoresheet again along with a double from Kyle Lafferty and a first NI goal for Linfield forward Peter Thompson as Nigel Worthington’s men ran out 4-1 winners.
At Under-21 level, Wales won 1-2 in Bosnia-Herzegovina to record a fifth-straight European Championship qualifying victory. Bosnia took the lead on 58 minutes through Boubacar Dialida Diabang but late goals from Simon Church (86) and Ched Evans (88) mean Wales need just one win from their last two games to finish top of their group. Scotland Under-21’s are second in their European Championship qualifying group after beating previously unbeaten goup leaders Finland 2-1 at Pittodrie. Ten group winners and the four best runners-up will advance to play-offs, with seven teams progressing to join hosts Sweden at the 2009 event.
Northern Ireland Under-21s lost 1-3 to Romania in a friendly match at Ballymena Showgrounds.
Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association following his reaction to being dismissed by referee Steve Bennett in the 3-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Mascherano was shown a second yellow card for questioning Bennett’s decision to book team-mate Fernando Torres and had to be restrained by fellow players and manager Rafa Benitez.
The Football Association have upheld the red card shown to Ipswich Town striker Pablo Counago during their 1-2 victory against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park on Saturday. Counago was given his marching orders after a clash with Jack Cork and was accused of spitting in Andy Butler’s face. The Spaniard will now serve a three-match suspension, starting immediately.
Cash-strapped Gretna have released a total of 22 players. Senior players David Bingham, Mark Birch, Mickael Buscher, Aurélien Collin, Chris Innes, Henry Makinwa, David Mathieson, Erik Paartalu and Michael Tait have all been made redundent. Youth players Mario Campagna, Jake Cunningham, Liam Cusack, Grant Easton, Nicholas Faulds, Conor Grant, Joseph Hughes, Callum McKinlay, Christopher Moffet, Jack Pattison, Alex Redfern, Ryan O’Hara and Daniel Smee have also been let go. A club statement read: “Due to the financial circumstances of the football club, we are no longer in a position to continue with the youth programme and community activities and have had to make several cutbacks accordingly. We regret that we have had to take this action but feel we need to dedicate all our resources into the first team unless there is a change in circumstances. We would like to thank everyone for their services and wish them every success in the future.”
Nathan Davies