From Solna to Malabo

By: Shazback | September 11th, 2007

Half-way through the international break is a good time to look at what Rennes’ players have been up to.

Hansson and Edman met up with ex-team-mates Kim Källström (now at Lyon) and Andreas Isaksson (now at Manchester City) for Sweden’s game against Denmark in Solna. They also met some of their recent opponents, as Toulouse’s Johan Elmander and Nantes, Roma and Bolton’s own (he was bought by Nantes, then loaned out to Roma last year, and now loaned out to Bolton) Christian Wilhelmsson were also on hand to help Sweden’s Euro 2008 Qualification bid. But no Sweden side would be complete without Inter Milan’s star striker (and also one of Milan’s most light-weight strikers) : Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Up against this fearsome Swedish side were some reckless Danes, who counted on Sorensen (Aston Villa), Agger (Liverpool), Kahlenberg (Auxerre), Dahl Tomasson (Villareal), as well as ageing star Gronkjaer (Copenhague) and young starlet Bendtner (Arsenal).

This game had a bit more at stake than just a duel between two Scandinavian sides. Not only were Denmark 4th of their group and 5 points behind Spain and Northern Ireland, who were battling it out for 2nd place, but Sweden were group leaders, 8 points ahead of their Danish opponents, thanks in part to the idiocy of a Danish supporter who attacked the referee of the last clash between the two Scandinavian sides, turning a 0-0 draw in the 89th minute into a 3-0 win for Sweden… Go figure.

However, the game wasn’t any more exciting than the first one’s opening 80 minutes. Hansson and Edman were rarely troubled, as both teams provided little attacking play. Hansson got a few good stops in, but didn’t have a great game, whilst Edman just filled his role, nothing more. Attackers on both sides had little to do, but Ibrahimovic still did enough to earn the Man of the Match award. A 0-0 draw in Solna is good news for the Swedes, as it keeps the Danes at bay, and helps them look like possible candidates to win the group, as Spain drew Iceland and North Ireland lost to Latvia meant that they kept 2 points away from their rivals.

The only other Rennes player to play an “A” international game was Stéphane M’Bia Etoundi who was part of Cameroon’s squad facing Equatorial Guinea in Malabo. However, it was very hard to get information about this game, and all I was able to scourge was that Equatorial Guinea won 1-0, thanks to a goal from Edjogo-Oweno. This isn’t a problem for Cameroon, who were qualified for the African Cup of Nations prior to the game, but the win almost qualified Equatorial Guinea. Unluckily for them, they can only be 4th best 2nd team and only the 3 best qualify. M’Bia seemed to have a calm game from the little information I got, and he isn’t injured and didn’t receive a card, so everything looks good there. I hope he’ll feature in Cameroon’s squad when they play the African Cup of Nations, because even if he will be missed by Rennes, it would be great to show that Rennes has quality players.

Two other Rennes players wore their country’s colour, but with the U-21 squads. Sylvain Marveaux helped France’s qualification cause for the U-21 Euro in 2008 with a role in the 1-0 win over Wales, and Julian Esteban wore Switzerland’s colours when the Swiss U-21 conceded a disappointing 1-1 draw with Macedonia.