In the past week, we were once again treated to an international break. This time however, the matches held importance as many were World Cup qualifier games. Let’s take a look how Real Madrid‘s biggest names performances over this break.
Keylor Navas
With all the rumors going around about him leaving, you would think this international break would be his chance to show he’s world class, right? Unfortunately for him, it showed us exactly why those rumors started in the first place. His worse match came at the start of the break in the qualifying match vs Mexico. Ex-Real Madrid striker Javier Hernandez opened up the scoring just 7 minutes in after Navas failed to stop the chip. Later on, Araujo also scored from a corner, leaving Costa Rica down 2-0.
The worse Navas play however came in the 86th minute, when Jurgen Damm raced down the right wing. Keylor, for some reason, decided to leave the goal and race to meet Damm, but wasn’t even able to clear the ball. He left the goal completely open and was lucky not to have another goal scored. Why Navas decided to play left back is beyond me.
Marcelo
Much like most of the Brazilian team, Marcelo looked in top form this international break. We saw the left back terrorized Paraguay throughout the whole match. Both his dribbling and flair were on display and he managed to be directly involved in two of the three goals.
The first was an assist for Neymar. He provided a perfect through ball on the counter attack to spring the Barcelona winger free on goal.
Marcelo wasn’t done however, and ended the match with a goal to his name. He moved into a left wing role and was awarded by Paulinho with an opportunity to score. Marcelo then closed the gap and chipped the ball in over the Paraguayan keeper to secure Brazil’s spot in the 2018 World Cup.
James Rodriguez
If Keylor Navas showed us why he’s probably leaving this summer, James showed us exactly why we need to do whatever it takes to keep him. The Colombian #10 had one of his best international breaks since the 2014 World Cup, as he was involved in every single goal for Colombia, which is impressive to say the least.
He started by scoring the match winning goal against Bolivia via penalty, giving Colombia a much needed 3 points. He then opened up the score versus Ecuador with a sliding goal that looked like it came straight out of a FIFA 17 match. Then, to cap things off, he assisted Cuadrado with a low cross.
Is it too much of a stretch to say Colombia are back in the qualifying race thanks to James Rodriguez?
Cristiano Ronaldo
If you expected Cristiano Ronaldo to slow down during the international break, you were oh so wrong. The Portugal captain not only had an impressive showing, but managed to break another record along the way.
He is now the active player with the most international goals to his name.
He broke the record in the match against Hungary, where he scored a brace. The first goal was a trademark CR7 finish, putting a left footed shot from outside the box in the back of the net. The second goal came from a free kick. Cristiano Ronaldo took a perfectly place free kick to the lower far post, beating the Hungarian keeper.
He also scored the opening goal in the match against Sweden. Unfortunately for him, a late Sweden comeback ruined his homecoming in Madeira.
Next: Real Madrid Lining Up Bid For 17 Year-Old Alan
Well, at least he got an airport named after him and a questionable bust to accompany it.