International watch: wins for Skriniar, Linetty, Schick, Fernandes, draw for Muriel

It’s been a good couple of days for Sampdoria’s international stars as they recorded four wins and a draw in the first round of fixtures with their national sides.

Luis Muriel was the first Samp star in action as Colombia hosted Chile in Barranquilla on Thursday night.

He came on in the 63rd minute but couldn’t help Los Cafeteros find a winner as the visitors held on for a 0-0 draw. Colombia, who remain third in the South American World Cup qualifying group, travel to Argentina for their next game on Tuesday 15 November.

Back in Europe, Milan Skriniar played the full 90 minutes in midfield for Slovakia as they brushed Lithuania aside 4-0 at the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho in Trnava on Friday.

Adam Nemec (12), Juraj Kucka (15) and Martin Skrtel (36) gave the hosts a comfortable 3-0 lead at half time before Marek Hamsik (86) added a fourth late on.  The win sees Jan Kozak’s side move up to six points in Group F.

Meanwhile Karol Linetty‘s Poland ran out 3-0 winners in Romania to strengthen their position at the top of Group E.

Kamil Grosicki (12) scored a fine solo effort to open the scoring on 12 minutes but the game remained in the balance until a late Robert Lewandowski brace (82, 90+1) made sure of the points.  The Samp midfielder played 70 minutes at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest.

Patrik Schick was an 81st-minute substitute as Czech Republic also claimed three points on Friday, albeit by a finer margin against Norway.

Michal Krmencik (11) and Jaromir Zmrhal (47) gave them a 2-0 lead at Prague’s Eden Stadium before Joshua King halved the deficit with three minutes of normal time remaining.  Schick almost added a third for the Czechs in added time only to see his effort saved by the keeper.

Elsewhere Bruno Fernandes captained Portugal U21 to a 3-1 victory over their Czech counterparts at the Estadio do Bonfim in Setubal.

Following Carlos Mane’s brace (15, 31), the Blucerchiati No.10 converted a 38th-minute penalty to hand the Portuguese a 3-0 advantage before Tomas Soucek (45) netted a consolation for the visitors. Bruno Fernandes was then withdrawn at half time.