Roberto Soldado bags Hat Trick

In this week's International friendlies, Valencia players absolutely soared.  Five players in total participated with their respective national teams and all of them proved their quality.  To start, Mehmet Topal played the full 90 minutes in Turkey’s 2-1 loss against Slovakia.  Despite the result, Topal had a good game, and even though his efforts could not win the match, he was still stood-out as one of the better players in the Turkey squad.

Sofiane Feghouli played his first senior international match with Algeria, participating the whole 90 minutes and scoring for his side as they went on to win 2-1 over Gambia, securing a move into the second round of the African Nation’s Cup.  Adil Rami, too, participated in this international break, playing the full 90 minutes with France against Germany.  Rami is quickly becoming France’s rock in the back; he had an excellent game in defense and helped assure France hold out for the 2-1 victory in Bremen that night.

But the real story took place in Málaga where Spain smashed Venezuela 5-0 thanks to a wonderful hat trick from Roberto Soldado.  Coming off the bench in the second half, Soldado wasted no time proving he was a worthy replacement for the injured David Villa and the sinking Fernando Torres.  Soldado got his first goal just three minutes after coming in, knocking in a clever side footed shot from close range thanks to some fine passing work from David Silva and Santi Cazorla.  Two minutes later Soldado would double his tally, grabbing his brace after a beautiful cross from Álvaro Arbeloa in the 50^th minute, but Soldado was far from done.  In the 66^th minute Soldado was tackled from behind by Fernando Amorbieta in the box, earning his side a penalty.  One away from his hat trick, Soldado stepped up to take it himself, but goalkeeper Dani Hernandez anticipated well and saved Soldado’s weak effort.  Spain would continue to dominate the match, and in the dying embers of the game, Soldado would get what he had been previously denied.  In the 84^th minute Soldado would seal his hat trick after some brilliant work from his teammate Jordi Alba.  Alba would be the fifth Valencia player to participate in during this international break.  He played the full 90 minutes against Venezuela, proving to be a rock in the left back spot, booming up and down the left flank, and providing a brilliant assist for Roberto Soldado.

Valencia players had an inspired break, now let’s hope they can transfer their form back to the club when they return and stay in their international selections for as long as possible. Amunt!

Written by David Wall, Matt Sinacore