Internationals. Rondón nets as Venezuela defeat Argentina

rondon-venezuela
Published
25 Mar 19

Newcastle United forward Salomón Rondón scored the opening goal in Venezuela's 3-1 friendly win over Argentina on Friday.

The United forward broke the deadlock inside the opening five minutes of the friendly clash at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano stadium, bringing down a long pass inside the penalty area to score his 22nd international goal, moving one shy of equalling Venezuela's all-time goalscoring record.

It was the first time Venezuela had scored three times against their South American compatriots with Jhon Murillo and Josef Martinez, brought on in place of Rondón after 72 minutes, finding the target for La Vinotinto.

Elsewhere, Switzerland got their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign off to a winning start, with Fabian Schär playing the full 90 minutes of their 2-0 away win against Georgia despite suffering a nasty clash of heads with defender Jemal Tabidze in the first half.

The centre-back was left unconscious from the collision and will not feature in Switzerland's second qualifying clash against Denmark in Basel on Tuesday.

Martin Dúbravka started in goal for Slovakia's European Championship qualifier against Wales but his side suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium, with Paul Dummett an unused substitute for the victors.

Christian Atsu was in action for Ghana, who claimed a 1-0 over Kenya in their final African Cup of Nations qualifier as the Black Stars finished top of Group F.

Despite Mo Sangare making his international debut for Liberia, it was a bittersweet moment for the 20-year-old as the Lone Stars were unable to avoid defeat to qualify for the summer's finals in Egypt, losing 1-0 to Chancel Mbemba's DR Congo in Group G.

Miguel Almirón played for 77 minutes in Paraguay's 1-0 defeat to Peru, with Paolo Guerrero scoring the match winner in the latter stages of the friendly tie in Trujillo.

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