World Cup hopefuls Spain, England and Argentina seized morale-boosting victories in warm-up matches on Wednesday.
European champions Spain comfortably saw off France 2-0 in Paris while a double from Peter Crouch helped England fight back to beat visiting Egypt 3-1.
Gonzalo Higuain scored a stunning goal as Argentina won 1-0 in Germany and Netherlands beat the US 2-1 in Amsterdam. Uruguay were 3-1 winners in Switzerland but world champions Italy could only draw 0-0 with Cameroon in Monaco.
PHOTO: AFP
First-half goals from David Villa and Sergio Ramos put a dominant Spain in charge against former world champions France and their hold on the game was rarely threatened.
The hosts continued to look short on confidence after having qualified for the World Cup via a controversial playoff against Ireland and the crowd vented their frustration by whistling under-fire coach Raymond Domenech during and after the game.
“This was a very important game. To beat a world champion like France gives you confidence,” Spain captain Iker Casillas told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
African champions Egypt outplayed England in the first half at Wembley, a superb goal from Mohamed Zidan giving the visitors a deserved lead.
Crouch helped turn the game around for England after the break with a goal either side of a well-taken effort from Shaun Wright-Phillips.
England coach Fabio Capello thanked the crowd for their support of John Terry, who he stripped of the captaincy after media reports of the defender’s private life.
PHOTO: AFP
Terry got a mixed reception in the early stages of the game but whatever audible boos there were, they quickly died away as the Chelsea player began to show his usual authority at the back.
“I really thank the crowd for supporting him,” Capello said. “It was a very important game for him after what happened to him off the pitch and he had a fantastic game.”
Argentina striker Higuain staked his claim for a place in coach Diego Maradona’s starting line-up with a wonderfully taken goal against Germany, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper before finishing from 30m out.
After some unimpressive displays Argentina were the better team against the Germans, who only came to life near the end.
The Dutch needed a Dirk Kuyt penalty and a deflected shot from Klaas Jan Huntelaar to ease past the Americans while in-form Diego Forlan set Uruguay on their way to a 3-1 comeback win in Switzerland.
Javier Hernandez and Carlos Vela scored for Mexico in their 2-0 win over New Zealand in Wednesday’s friendly between the two World Cup-bound teams that drew 90,526 to the Rose Bowl.
Hernandez put El Tri ahead in the 54th minute with his third goal in two international games, beating All Whites goalkeeper Glen Moss with a header off a cross from PSV Eindhoven defender Carlos Salcido.
Vela dribbled past three defenders in the 58th minute and slotted the ball in from 10m. The 21-year-old has just one goal in 17 games for Arsenal this season.
Other sides warming up for the World Cup with victories were Slovenia, who thumped Qatar 4-1, and Portugal who defeated China 2-0 in Coimbra.
Nigeria eased past the Democratic Republic of Congo 5-2 while World Cup hosts South Africa fielded a weakened team at home to Namibia and needed a goal from Katlego Mphela to grab an unconvincing 1-1 draw.
Midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic shone for Serbia in their emphatic 3-0 victory in Algeria, Ghana lost 2-1 in Bosnia and Ivory Coast slumped to a 2-0 defeat in London against South Korea.
Other sides bound for the finals who failed to impress were Greece who conceded late goals to fall 2-0 at home to Senegal.
Slovakia were beaten 1-0 by Norway, Denmark lost 2-1 in Austria and Honduras slumped 2-0 in Turkey.
In other friendlies, Craig Levein celebrated his first game as Scotland manager with a 1-0 home win over the Czech Republic and Sweden won 1-0 in Wales thanks to a superb volley by Johan Elmander.
Other results on Wednesday:
• Albania 1, Northern Ireland 0
• Angola 1, Latvia 1
• Armenia 1, Belarus 3
• Belgium 0, Croatia 1
• Cyprus 0, Iceland 0
• Georgia 2, Estonia 1
• Moldova 1, Kazakhstan 0
• Luxembourg 1, Azerbaijan 2
• Macedonia 2, Montenegro 1
• Malta 1, Finland 2
• Poland 2, Bulgaria 0
• Romania 0, Israel 2
• Russia 1, Hungary 1
• Venezuela 0, Panama 2
• Zimbabwe 2, Malawi 1
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