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International Blues 26.03.05

Last updated : 30 March 2005 By Brian Cartlidge

Republic Of Ireland: Kenny Cunningham & Clinton Morrison

Kenny Cunningham again skippered the Republic of Ireland side in their World Cup qualifier against Israel whilst Clinton Morrison was also named in the starting eleven for the game in Tel Aviv having overcome an ankle injury during training on Thursday.

And, it was the Blues striker that opened the scoring in Tel Aviv with a superb near-post effort after just 4 minutes, his first international goal in 13 starts.

Brian Kerr's side held onto that slender lead until a last minute equaliser from substitute Abas Soan gave the home nation a share of the spoils.

Cunningham completed the full ninety minutes of the game whilst Morrison was substituted five minutes from time.

Israel 1-1 Republic of Ireland
Match Report

England v Northern Ireland:
Maik Taylor, Damien Johnson & Emile Heskey


Maik Taylor and Damien Johnson were both selected in Lawrie Sanchez's starting XI for Northern Ireland's Group Six World Cup qualifier against England at Old Trafford whilst Blues striker Emile Heskey was an unused sub for the home nation.

The visitors, and particularly Taylor in goal, kept England at bay for the first 45 minutes but four goals from Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Chris Baird (og), and Frank Lampard in the first 16 minutes of the second half gave England a comfortable win. The Blues keeper blameless on all four occasions.

Taylor and Johnson completed the full ninety minutes for the visitors with the latter picking up his second yellow card of the qualifiers which rules him out of Northern Irelands next game against Poland in four days time.

England 4-0 Northern Ireland
Match Report

Holland: Mario Melchiot

Blues full-back Mario Melchiot was an unused substitute for Holland in their 2-0 win against Romania.

Dutch striker Phiilip Cocu scored the first goal in the Group One qualifier in Bucharest in the first minute and Ryan Babel sealed victory for Marco van Basten's side five minutes from time.

Romania 0-2 Holland

Tunisia: Mehdi Nafti


On loan midfielder Medhi Nafti was an unused sub in the Tunisia squad that won 7-0 against Malawi in their African Nations, Group Five, World Cup qualifier in Rades. Francileudo Santos bagged four goals with Haykel Guemamdia, Hamed Namouchi and Kaies Ghodbane the other scorers for the home nation.

Tunisia 7-0 Malawi

Senegal: Salif Diao


Another of Blues' on loan midfielder's Salif Diao was in the Senegal squad that thrashed Liberia 6-1 in their African Nations, Group One, World Cup qualifier.

Diao however did not make the final eighteen chosen for the game in Dakar.

Bolton's on-loan striker El-Hadji Diouf bagged a brace for the Teranga Lions with Khalilou Fadiga, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Henri Camara and Moussa N'Diaye also getting themselves on the scoresheet in front of more than 60,000 fans in the Senegal capital.

Senegal 6-1 Liberia