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Blues duo play in England win

Baines impresses in first game under Hodgson

Everton defenders Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka starred for England in their 1-0 victory over Norway in Oslo this evening which marked Roy Hodgson's first game in charge with a win.

Both players played the full 90 minutes, that despite Jagielka only being on standby for Euro2012 next month.

Baines, of course, is in Hodgson's squad for Poland/Ukraine which is fueling more Sunday speculation that Manchester United will make their move before the tournament kicks off in case the defender's performances for England start a bidding war. That, of course, would depend on Baines getting sufficient playing time at Euro2012 ahead of Ashley Cole.

Elsewhere, Darron Gibson, John Heitinga, Tim Howard, and Marouane Fellaini were in action for their respective nations with mixed results.

Gibson and the Republic of Ireland ran out 1-0 winners over Bosnia, Fellaini and Belgium drew 2-2 with Montenegro and Heitinga contributed to Holland's home defeat to Bulgaria with a loose pass that led to one of the opponents' goals.

Howard, meanwhile, played in the United States' emphatic 5-1 win over Scotland that also marked Landon Donovan's record 125th appearance for th USA.

Ex- and wannabe-Blue, Donovan, returned to the American side with a bang, scoring a hat-trick that should go some way towards dispelling fears that the 30 year-old is losing his desire for the game.

Quotes or other material sourced from EvertonFC.com

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