A host of Everton players have had to postpone their Summer holidays due to international commitments, with no fewer than 6 being involved with their countries yesterday.
I'll kick off this international round-up with England, who could only muster a 2-2 draw with Switzerland in a Euro 2012 Qualifier. Everton defenders Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka were both named amongst the substitutes, but Baines replaced the injured Ashley Cole after 30 minutes. Two fluky Swiss free kicks stunned the hosts, but Frank Lampard pulled one back from the penalty spot before half-time. After the break England equalised through Ashley Young and Everton man Baines got the assist. James Milner chipped a ball into Baines, whose chested pass was perfectly weighted to enable Young to drive home. Baines was a standout player in a poor England side, recognised by the fact that he was trending worldwide on Twitter.
In Group B, Seamus Coleman's Ireland won 2-0 against Macedonia in Skopje. Our man was an unused substitute as a Robbie Keane brace left Ireland top of the group.
In the same group, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was also an unused substitute as Russia overcame Armenia by 3 goals to 1. Armenian Marcos Pizzelli opened the scoring on 25 minutes, only for Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko to level for the Russians within a minute of the restart. The Spurs frontman went on to complete his hat-trick.
Elsewhere, John Heitinga featured for Holland as they drew 0-0 with Brazil in a rematch of the World Cup semi-final. Heitinga played the full ninety minutes and picked up a booking.
Tim Howard kept goal for the USA in a Gold Cup warm up match against World Champions Spain. Ex-Everton loanee Landon Donovan did not feature as goals from Negredo, Cazorla (2) and Torres handed Spain a 4-0 win in Massachusetts.
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