Friday International Recap: Gabon, Armenia, and Switzerland

Borussia Dortmund saw three of its top players all in action on Friday representing their countries.

Gabon took the field early Friday in an African Cup of Nations Qualifying match against Sierra Leone. Fans in the Gabonese capital of Franceville were sent home happy as their home side won, 2-1.

Elim CAN 2017: Le Gabon domine la Sierra Léone https://t.co/qWINbBDhVl pic.twitter.com/Mk89C8d2x7

— Africa Top Sports (@AfricaTopSports) March 25, 2016

TRANSLATION: Gabon dominates Sierra Leone.

The scoring started in the first half when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted a penalty to put his team ahead. Malick Evouna doubled the Gabon advantage before a late Sierra Leone strike from Sheka cut the deficit back to one.

Simultaneously, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Armenia were in action against Belarus. The match finished 0-0, but Mkhitaryan played all 90 minutes in the draw.

Armenia had plenty of chances to take the lead, but were shut down by Belarussian goalkeeper Sergei Chernik. On the other side, Armenian keeper Roman Berezovskiy was injured just eight minutes into the match and was replaced by Arsen Beglaryan.

Switzerland took on the Republic of Ireland Friday afternoon in Dublin. Following the retirement of long-time Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio, a competition for the starting job ensued between Yann Sommer, Marwin Hitz, and Dortmund keeper Roman Burki.

On Friday, Sommer was in net for the Swiss team, chosen ahead of Burki. His performance, along with the rest of his Switzerland team, was disappointing as Ireland won 1-0.

Offensively, the Swiss were not opportunistic and, as the commentators put it, "far from spectacular." Had Burki started, perhaps Switzerland might have played with more confidence.

However, with Switzerland host Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday in Zurich, it may perhaps give Burki a chance to state his claim as the starting goalkeeper for Switzerland.