FCBARCELONA.CAT

06.09.2008 10:04

11 Barça players in international action

Berta Brau

On Saturday eleven of the Barça first team are involved in qualification match for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

France, Spain, Mexico, Iceland, Uruguay, Belarus and Argentina are all in action of September 6 in the first official international matches of the season. All seven games with Barça involvement are World Cup qualifiers.

Gudjohnsen and Hleb first

Eidur Gudjohnsen, with Iceland and Alexander Hleb, with Belarus, will be the first to play. The Icelanders, captained by Gudjohnsen will be in Oslo facing Norway at 19.00 (CET).

Alexander Hleb, meanwhile plays for Belarus against the Ukraine. The game also kicks off at 19.00, in the city of Lvov.

Four from Barça against Bosnia

Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Bojan are all in the Spanish squad whose campaign begins against Bosnia, the game to be held at La Condomina, in Murcia. Kick off is at 22.00. The young Spanish striker was initially expected to play with the Under 21 side, but due to an injury to Fernando Torres, Vicente del Bosque decided to call Bojan Krkic up for first team duty.

Starting at 20.00

The ‘tricolor' captained by Rafa Márquez faces Jamaica half an hour before it all gets under way in the Austria v Francia game, where ‘Les Bleus’ have two Barça players in Thierry Henry and Eric Abidal. The venue is the Ernst Happel in Vienna, the same stadium used for the recent European Championship final.

Then, at 21.00, the Olympic champions, led by Leo Messi, face co-leaders in the South American section Paraguay. Martín Cáceres will be the last Barça player to play, with Colombia v Uruguay not starting until 01.30 in the early hours of what in Europe will already be Sunday 7 of September.