Italy and Netherlands picked up 1-0 victories on Wednesday in soccer friendlies, but England and France went down to unexpected losses against lower-rated opposition.
Spain stunned Germany 3-1 as Raul Gonzalez scored twice to become his country's all-time scoring leader.
England was shocked at home 3-1 by archrival Australia, and 1998 World Cup champion France fell 2-0 at home against the Czech Republic.
PHOTO: REUTERS
World Cup champion Brazil also came away without a victory, settling for a 0-0 draw in China on a day of more than two dozen international friendlies around the globe.
Italy's two new strikers decided the 1-0 victory over Portugal in Genoa, Italy, and overshadowed the debut on the Portuguese bench of former Brazil coach Luiz Filipe Scolari.
Fabrizio Miccoli and Bernardo Corradi -- two forwards playing their first game for the national team -- combined to score the lone goal in the 62nd. Miccoli's header was blocked by Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira with Corradi knocking in the rebound.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Portugal had its share of chances with stars Luis Figo and Manuel Rui Costa both coming close.
The Dutch picked up a late victory over Argentina when Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored in the 86th to give the Netherlands its seventh straight victory.
Despite the star-studded lineup, the exhibition game was evenly-matched until Van Bronckhorst beat Argentine keeper Pablo Cavallero from 25m after controlling an Edgar Davids crossfield ball.
The loss was another blow to Argentina, which made a shock exit from the first round of last summer's World Cup.
Real Madrid striker Raul became his country's all-time scoring leader with a strike in the 31st -- to break the record -- and a penalty in the 76th. He now has 31. Fredi Bobic scored for Germany with Jose Maria ``Guti'' Gutierrez scoring Spain's other.
The victory extended coach Inaki Saez's unbeaten run to six games since he replaced Jose Antonio Camacho after last summer's World Cup.
Germany's defeat continued its poor recent record against top international sides. It has also suffered defeats in its last matches against the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and England.
In Saint-Denis, Zdenek Grygera scored after just seven minutes for the Czech Republic and Liverpool's Milan Baros added the clincher in the 61st in the 2-0 upset of the former World Cup winners.
Australia got first half goals from Tony Popovic and Harry Kewell and another in the second half from Brett Emerton to beat England 3-1 in London. England started a near-full strength lineup, but made a complete switch in the second half playing with 11 under-26 players.
England's Francis Jeffers got one back in the second half for the home side after coming in as a second-half substitute. England is ranked among the world's top 10 sides with the Socceroos ranked only 50th.
Wayne Rooney became England's youngest-ever international when he entered to start the second half at the age of 17 years and 111 days. That broke the record set by James Prinsep, who was 141 days older when he played for England against Scotland in 1879.
It was Australia's first game in more than 14 months since losing against Uruguay in a World Cup qualifying match.
In Guangzhou, China, the Chinese held five-time World Cup champion Brazil to a scoreless draw -- a moral victory after losing 4-0 to Brazil in last summer's World Cup.
A crowd of 60,000 in Guangdong Stadium cheered China's every move with its defense bottling up Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.
Turkey and Ukraine played a 0-0 draw in Izmir, Turkey, the last tuneup before the two face critical European 2004 qualifiers. Turkey faces England and Ukraine plays Spain.
Bulgaria took a 1-0 lead over Hungary on Zoran Yankovic's goal before the match in Larnaca, Cyprus, was called off because of high winds and heavy rain.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
RSS