Brazil continued their dominance over England with a 1-0 friendly win on Saturday but 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa’s troubles persisted with a 0-0 draw at home to Japan on coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s second debut.
Spain added to Diego Maradona’s worries by beating his Argentina side 2-1 thanks to two Xabi Alonso goals, including a late penalty, as the teams already qualified for South Africa began their preparations.
In other games between qualified teams, Slovakia beat the US 1-0 while the Denmark-South Korea and Italy-Netherlands matches ended in goalless stalemates.
PHOTO: REUTERS
England last beat Brazil in March 1990 and their injury-weakened team rarely looked like ending that record. The eight meetings since then, including Saturday’s in Qatar, have seen four Brazil wins and four draws.
Nilmar headed the only goal two minutes after half-time, then Luis Fabiano missed a penalty and Lucio thundered a shot against the post as Brazil continued to press.
In South Africa, Parreira, who was appointed for the first time in 2007 but quit last year after his wife fell ill, returned to the helm to replace compatriot Joel Santana following a long losing run.
He recalled striker Benni McCarthy for the match in Port Elizabeth but it was to little effect, as Japan enjoyed most of the better moments in a game of few chances.
South Africa’s only victory in their last 10 games is a 1-0 win in a hastily-arranged friendly against Madagascar.
“It was a difficult game but it’s a beginning,” Parreira told reporters. “It was all right but that is not good enough. It would have been good only if we had won the match.”
Alonso put European champions Spain ahead after 16 minutes against Argentina in Madrid and converted an 86th minute penalty following a handball by Martin Demichelis to give them the win.
Lionel Messi replied from another penalty just after the hour for Argentina who staggered to South Africa after losing to Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil under Maradona’s leadership.
Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsit converted a penalty to give Slovakia a 1-0 win over US, his eighth international goal, after a foul on teenager Vladimir Weiss.
The US fielded a weakened team because of domestic club commitments.
A classy goal from striker Danko Lazovic in the 57th minute gave qualified Serbia a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in a lively friendly at Windsor Park.
Switzerland, another qualifier, slumped to a 1-0 home defeat against Norway, who missed out on South Africa.
John Carew scored the only goal of a drab, rainswept match from a second half penalty to end Ottmar Hitzfeld team’s 11-match unbeaten run.
Results of other international friendly matches on Saturday:
• FYR Macedonia 3 Canada 0
• Wales 3 Scotland 0
• Poland 0 Romania 1
• Saudi Arabia 1 Belarus 1
• Croatia 5 Liechtenstein 0
• Estonia 0 Albania 0
• Luxembourg 1 Iceland 1
• Belgium 3 Hungary 0
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
RSS