Brazil Cruise, England Goalless, and Italy's Match Cancelled

Pato celebrating his third goal in three games for Brazil

I did a post previewing the upcoming international action, focussing in on three nations with important fixtures. The three countries I chose to focus in on were Brazil, Italy, and England, and all three had very different results in their international fixtures.

Brazil Cruise with Pato the star


Brazil played against Ukraine, and Mano Menezes's side managed a comfortable 2-0 win. And it's Pato who should grab the headlines with his great goal, and his great form for the Selecao, three goals in his past three matches. I wrote up a more detailed article at Soccerlens talking about the young AC Milan forward and his great form which you can read here. The other goal was scored by Dani Alves who finished off a cross at the back post with a great volley, but now the big question arises, can Brazil keep up their good form through qualification and into the 2014 World Cup which they'll be hosting? Share your comments about this below!

Zambrotta avoiding flares thrown onto the field

Italy have match cancelled due to Serbian fan trouble


Italy played two matches this international break, and it'll be the latter one which was supposed to take place against Serbia which will grab most of the headlines. Their first match away against Northern Ireland ended in a relatively disappointing 0-0 draw (if you want a good match report, click here), and their second which was supposed to be at home against Serbia didn't take place.

The reason? Well, it was due to Serbian fans causing trouble and throwing flares onto the field, towards players, and into sections of the Italian crowd. The kick off was delayed by about 35 minutes, and after about 6 minutes of playing time, the Scottish referee Craig Thomson cancelled the match due to the continuing disruptions.

Now the big question here is, what will UEFA do about this? If you're interested in finding out what'll happen, and want more info regarding this cancelled match, check this out. And what are your thoughts regarding this matter? Should the match be an automatic 3-0 win to Italy? Or should they replay it without away fans? Share your thoughts by commenting below!

Crouch missed a great opportunity to score...

England goalless against Montenegro


England were slightly disappointing in their match, Fabio Capello's side was unable to score a goal at home against Montenegro, and they now find themselves second in the group, three points behind Montenegro.

England were clumsy, and unable to break down the tough Montenegro side which hit Joe Hart's crossbar from a header. Definetely a bad result for England, and if you want a great match report, check this one out from the Guardian. So will England be able to pick up their form and qualify directly? Or will they end up second best to Montenegro? Share your comments below!