Liverpool Internationals Recap: At Least Nobody Got Hurt Edition

One flu bug, one early substitution with an eye on Tuesday, and no injuries. In short, the first round of games this international break went about as well as could have been hoped for for Liverpool. Plus some stuff happened for the countries involved, if that's your gourd of mate...

Moldova 0, England 5

England rolled against one of the sides—along with Montenegro and San Marino—that make up the nougaty underbelly of Group H, and already there's talk of Hodgson solving the Gerrard-Lampard conundrum and potential glory in Brazil. Which would be hilarious if it wasn't so tiresomely predictable. As for Gerrard, he only played the first half as Roy Hodgson sought to keep his captain fresh for Tuesday's match against Ukraine.

Lithuania 1, Slovakia 1

Martin Skrtel picked up a yellow card and came close to scoring off a corner as he captained Slovakia to a 1-1 draw with Lithuania. Slovakia will have to do better when they face Liechtenstein on Tuesday in order to keep pace with group co-favourites Greece in the early stages of Group G qualification.

Wales 0, Belgium 2

With a flu-stricken Joe Allen adding to Wales' injury woes, the Belgians were always set to be strong favourites to take all three points, and when James Collins was shown red to send Wales down to ten men half way through the first it made things even worse. And with a trip to Serbia on Tuesday, things could get ugly early for the Welsh in Group A, especially if Allen remains unavailable.

Netherlands 2, Turkey 0

Turkey pushed the Dutch hard but didn't have the legs to keep up in the end, and Nuri Sahin's introduction in the 60th minute wasn't enough to help the visitors overcome what at the time was a one goal deficit. Former Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt was on the bench for the Netherlands but didn't play.

Bulgaria 2, Italy 2

Liverpool's Fabio Borni watched an exiting match from the bench as a confident Italian side travelled to Sofia and took the game to the host nation. The Bulgarians, though, held, eventually finding their feet and a lead as the match wound its way to a 2-2 draw that the hosts will feel more positive about.

Denmark 0, Czech Republic 0

The Danes had more chances and the Czechs had the better ones, but in the end neither side seemed overly convincing in a match that didn't see its first shot on goal until twenty minutes in. After Italy also drew their match, it means that only Armenia have three points in Group B after they defeated fellow presumptive afterthoughts Malta. Most importantly for Liverpool fans, Agger played the full ninety without incident and Denmark has no second match to play in this international break.

Colombia 4, Uruguay 0

With Luis Suarez suspended for Friday night's game, Uruguay's poor Olympics form carried over to the senior side as Colombia hammered them 4-0 in Barranquilla. Colombia's Falcao terrorised a Uruguayan backline that didn't include Sebastian Coates, who spent the game on the bench. A similarly shaky performance when they host Ecuador in Montevideo on Tuesday could fuel concerns that Uruguay are struggling in the role of favourites after successful runs at the 2010 World Cup and 2011 Copa America as dark horses.