An emotional night in Holland and a bad day at the office for a world legend were the standout stories from Friday’s international friendlies.
Netherlands 2-3 FranceAmazing tribute to Johan Cruyff during the Netherlands v France friendlypic.twitter.com/YIfHLLthGm
— Football Vines (@FootballVines) March 25, 2016
This one was more about what happened off the pitch, as the Amsterdam Arena gave a moment’s silence for the slain in Brussels before pausing the match after 14 minutes to honor the late Johan Cruyff with a full minute’s standing ovation.
Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud had already scored before that, as France jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Dutch stormed back to tie through Luuk de Jong and Ibrahim Afellay, but Blaise Matuidi netted one minute after Ifellay to earn the win.
Portugal 0-1 Bulgaria
Ronaldo and Portugal suffered a shocking home loss to Bulgaria in a Friday friendly.
Ronaldo saw his penalty saved by Vlado Stoyanov, the same goalkeeper who stymied his PK attempt in a club match between Real Madrid and Ludogorets Razgrad in October 2014.
Ludogorets man Marcelinho scored the lone goal in the win, as Bulgaria picked up just its third win since the start of 2015. The other two came against Azerbaijan and Malta so, yeah, this was a big deal.
Elsewhere
Ireland 1-0 Switzerland
Gabon 2-1 Sierra Leone
Luxembourg 0-3 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Armenia 0-0 Belarus
Slovakia 0-0 Latvia
