Powerhouses England, Spain and Argentina were shocked out of their summer slumbers on Wednesday, with all three sides impressively coming from behind to save face as a bumper night of friendly internationals kicked off World Cup season.
Jermain Defoe vindicated Fabio Capello’s decision to snub Michael Owen by scoring twice to earn England a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands, who have already qualified for the World Cup, in Amsterdam.
England were heading for only a third defeat in 16 games under Capello as Dirk Kuyt and Rafael van der Vaart punished careless mistakes from Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry to give the Dutch a two-goal lead at half-time.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But Capello sent on Defoe at the interval and he showed why the England coach believes the Tottenham star is currently a better option than Owen by producing two clinical finishes.
“It is preseason, it is possible to make some mistakes,” Capello said. “But we had 45 minutes to play and I was sure we would play better and they did.”
“For me it is just preseason. Players sometimes play a little bit tired, they are not 100 percent physically yet. When you are not in a good moment you can make these mistakes,” he said.
“They were two presents for Holland. But is a friendly game. I prefer to give a gift in a non-competitive game and not in the future,” Capello said.
In Skopje, European champions Spain scored three goals inside five second-half minutes to come from two goals down to defeat Macedonia 3-2.
Lazio’s Goran Pandev gave his side a 2-0 lead with goals in the seventh and 30th minutes.
Six minutes after the restart Liverpool striker Fernando Torres reduced the deficit with a header from a Xavi pass and after 54 minutes Barcelona’s former Manchester United man Gerard Pique leveled the encounter.
Two minutes later it was 3-2 to the visitors, Torres’ clubmate Albert Riera netting a left-footer to get on the scoresheet.
Italy, the world champions, were held to a 0-0 draw in Basel by Switzerland, who needed goalkeeper Diego Benaglio to pull off a string of fine saves.
“After a difficult June, we have started the season on a good note,” said Italy coach Marcello Lippi, whose side slumped out of the Confederations Cup in the first phase in South Africa.
“A win would have made the night sweeter, but we had an excellent match. I’m very satisfied,” Lippi said.
Five-time world champions Brazil warmed up for next month’s World Cup qualifier with Argentina with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Estonia in Tallinn, the first ever meeting between the two sides.
Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano grabbed the only goal.
Two-time world champions Argentina battled from a goal down to clinch a 3-2 win over Russia in Moscow.
Atletico Madrid marksman Sergio Aguero, Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez and Napoli midfielder Jesus Datolo were all on target for Diego Maradona’s side after Zenit St Petersburg’s Igor Semshov had put Russia into the lead.
Tottenham forward Roman Pavlyuchenko rounded off the scoring with a late consolation.
“Russia are among the strongest teams in the world but we looked very good against them. We scored three times and won. It’s a good result,” Maradona said.
In other matches, new Czech Republic coach Ivan Hasek saw his reign begin on a winning note with a 3-1 win over Belgium in Teplice with Roman Hubnik equalizing Jan Vertonghen’s opener before Milan Baros, with a penalty, and Michal Kadlec sealed victory.
Cameroon’s new boss Paul Le Guen was also a winner as the African side beat Austria 2-0.
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
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