An eventful day across three continents for several of Chelsea's internationals on Sunday, starting down in Africa, continuing in Europe, and finishing the day across the Pond in North America. Unmentioned below will be Serbia's friendly against Russia, a 1-1 draw that featured Branislav Ivanovic for the full 90 and Nemanja Matic for none of it.
2015 Africa Cup of Nations runners-up Ghana got us underway, with a qualifier away to tiny Mauritius (and their superman goalkeeper). The Black Stars, led by former Chelsea undertaker Avram Grant, needed a win to secure passage to the final tournament in January, and thanks to current Chelsea player Baba Rahman, current Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu, and Chelsea-linked Swansea forward Andre Ayew, they did just that. It took dominant Ghana until the 70th minute to find the breakthrough, but two goals in quick succession, first from Ayew then from Atsu, secured the 2-0 win and top spot in qualifying Group H. Look for Baba Rahman's two excellent assists in the highlights below (starting around the 7min mark).
Euro 2016 hopefuls Belgium were next, trying to put together a decent performance after two underwhelming preparatory matches for the tournament. Just like Ghana, they left it late as well, but goals in the 70th and 73rd minutes, from Eden Hazard and Laurent Ciman, respectively, gave the Red Devils the comeback 3-2 win over Norway. If we ignore the first hour or so of the match, it was actually a decent performance from Marc Wilmots's men. Hazard was involved in Belgium's first two goals, scoring the second with his head from a De Bruyne cross and combining with De Bruyne to set Lukaku free for the first. You've already seen the goal, but Hazard's overall performance was actually quite decent and worth a gander.
On a slightly sourer note, Belgium's defense remains rather rickety and while Courtois couldn't really do anything about Norway's two goals (two perfect finishes), the wondersaves that we had gotten used to from our title-winning season remain wholly absent. Also, prime Chelsea transfer target Radja Nainggolan looked rather rusty in his first competitive action in almost a month; his horrendously poor giveaway in midfield led to Norway's first goal.
A similarly uneven performance awaited us in the day's late action, as Michael Hector got the start for Jamaica in their first match at the Copa America. Playing in defensive midfield, Hector's first half was one to quickly forget, full of poor tackles, poor decisions, and poor passing, but he (as well as the rest of the team) improved as the game wore on, even though they were reduced to 10-men after just 23 minutes (by which point Venezuela were already leading 1-0). Leicester City's Wes Morgan made a huge difference as a substitute late in the first half (he was a fitness doubt initially), and Jamaica were perhaps unlucky to not grab an equalizer in the second half. Hector himself spanked one off the far post after some enterprising play and good pressing, before getting substituted off in the 77th minute.
Michael Hector na trave. pic.twitter.com/OL1dYzDBsu
— English League BR (@EnglishLeagueBR) June 5, 2016
With the loss, Jamaica's tournament is basically over with games against Mexico and Uruguay coming up next. Still, valuable experience for the young-ish Chelsea kid with hopes of making it in the big time.