Spain could afford the luxury of a missed penalty as they made England look distinctly ordinary in a 1-0 international friendly settled on Wednesday by an early Asier del Horno goal at the Bernabeu stadium.
The loss ensured that England's Real Madrid pair David Beckham and Michael Owen, who both received a warm reception from both sets of fans, failed to put one over their adopted country
PHOTO: AFP
In fact the tale of the shots on target told its own story as Spain managed seven while England managed none and only two off-target as the visitors went down to their eighth defeat in 48 matches under Sven-Goran Eriksson's charge.
PHOTO: AFP
On England's previous visit to Real's cauldron in 1987, Gary Lineker, then of Barcelona, scored all four goals in a 4-2 win for a side with Bobby Robson at the helm.
But there was to be no repeat as, with Beckham and Owen largely anonymous, Eriksson's men allowed Spain to stamp their authority on a match which showed the hosts to be technically a cut above their counterparts.
PHOTO: AP
The same could not be said of the home crowd, who roundly booed England's black contingent, fomenting still further a racism row dating back to recent disparaging comments by Spain coach Luis Aragones about Arsenal's French star Thierry Henry.
England started brightly enough, Wayne Rooney forcing home keeper Iker Casillas to make an alert stop as the Manchester United teen and star of Euro 2004 bore down on him.
But Spain were soon into their stride and the early goal promptly came.
A Xavi Hernandez corner from left drifted through to Athletic Bilbao wingback Del Horno, who nodded past keeper Paul Robinson.
It was somehow appropriate that a man whose name translates as "oven" should have turned up the heat on pallid visitors.
On 24 minutes the hosts should have gone two goals to the good after Robinson clattered into the marauding Raul.
The Real striker, 40 goals to his credit in the Spanish national side, stepped up to take the spotkick but Robinson redeemed himself by plunging to his left to block the effort.
England were not helped by Rooney chopping down the fleet-footed Joaquin Sanchez dreadfully late and then pushing at Casillas as the latter shepherded a loose ball out.
Four minutes before the break, Rooney received a standing ovation -- of the jeering kind -- as he gave way to Alan Smith before Greek referee Georges Kasnaferis could replace the yellow card shown to the tempestuous teen for the altercation with Casillas with a red one.
Rooney blotted his copybook further by throwing away the black armband which the team was wearing in honor of the memory of former England captain Emlyn Hughes, who was buried on Wednesday.
Despite the anti-racist messages placed pitchside before the start the cool Madrid air was punctuated by racist chanting directed at Arsenal fullback Ashley Cole.
It would grow only worse.
Beckham and Owen have experienced highs and lows in the white of Real this season -- the former scoring two early matchwinning goals before spending a month on the sidelines through injury and Owen hitting his stride with five goals in all competitions.
But in the white of England neither clicked on the night against a side bulldozed 3-0 in the countries' last meeting at Villa Park in 2001 for what was Eriksson's first match in charge.
Only Beckham, Owen, Rio Ferdinand and Nicky Butt remain from that squad.
Ferdinand and Gary Neville renewed Manchester United and Arsenal rivalry in getting to grips Wednesday with Jose Antonio Reyes, who saw the pair's showing in the recent Old Trafford clash as over-physical.
Reyes rarely caught the eye before giving way to Valencia's Miguel Angel Angulo on 57 minutes.
Moments later, Beckham also left the stage to cheers from the home fans, while Frank Lampard also withdrew.
A renewed storm of gorilla-like grunting erupted as Eriksson threw Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Jenas, both black, into the fray.
Eriksson said before the game his team is better than the one which thrashed Germany 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier in Munich three years ago, but on this evidence he is mistaken.
Ecuador gets Brazil
World champions Brazil crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat in Ecuador on Wednesday while home wins for Peru, Colombia and Uruguay kept the South American World Cup qualifying group wide open.
Peru beat neighbors Chile 2-1 in a pulsating match, Uruguay captain Paolo Montero escaped a red card and then scored in the 1-0 win over Paraguay and Colombia beat Bolivia by the same score.
Argentina's 3-2 win over Venezuela in Buenos Aires took them top of the 10-nation group with 22 points from 11 games, two more than Brazil who lost their unbeaten record 2,800m above sea level in Quito.
Below them, only three points separate third-placed Paraguay and Ecuador, who are both on 16 points, from ninth-placed Venezuela, who have 13.
The top four teams qualify directly for the Germany finals in 2006 while the fifth plays off against the Oceania region winners.
Brazil striker Ronaldo blamed the altitude after his side were sunk by midfielder Edison Mendez's well-struck shot from the edge of the area.
"I had a big headache, I was short of air and I needed oxygen to breathe," said Ronaldo, who nevertheless played 90 minutes and wasted an excellent chance to equalize when he side-footed wide.
Brazil's players arrived from their European clubs less than 48 hours before kickoff, although several of the Ecuador team also completed transatlantic journeys on Monday.
"It's good, from any point of view, to beat the world champions," said Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez.
Argentina never it easy against Venezuela, despite being gifted a fourth-minute lead in Buenos Aires when Jose Manuel Rey headed into his own net.
Ruberth Moran equalized with a brilliant individual goal, his fifth in the last three games, before a Juan Roman Riquelme free kick gave Argentina a 2-1 halftime lead.
Javier Saviola made it 3-1 before Argentina goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri's blunder allowed Leonel Vielma to pull one back from a free kick.
Peru's 2-1 win over Chile in Lima left both teams level on 13 points, above Venezuela on goal difference.
Second half goals from Jefferson Farfan of PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich's Paolo Guerrero put Peru in control.
But there was a dramatic finale as Sebastian Gonzalez pulled an injury-time goal back for Chile, then missed a chance to equalize with the last kick of the game.
Peru defender Santiago Acas-iete and Chilean midfielder Rodrigo Melendez were sent off after clashing in the 41st minute.
MONTERO TACKLE
Montero, who returned to the Uruguay team this year after quitting in 2002, headed home in the 78th minute in Montevideo to lift his team to fifth on 14 points.
The 33-year-old Juventus player, however, was lucky to be on the pitch, having escaped with a yellow card after a reckless lunge on an opponent in the first half.
Colombia also needed a headed goal from a defender, Mario Yepes of Paris St Germain giving them a 1-0 home win over Bolivia in Barranquilla.
Colombia moved up to sixth with 13 points while Bolivia, who have 10, have begun to lose touch with the pack.
China crashes out
China were sent crashing out of the 2006 World Cup by the narrowest of margins on Wednesday after a 7-0 thrashing of Hong Kong was not enough to stop rivals Kuwait pipping them at the post.
Trailing Kuwait on goal difference heading into the final round of Group Four fixtures, China had needed a big win in Guangzhou to have any chance of reaching next year's final qualifying round.
But Kuwait's 6-1 drubbing of Malaysia in Kuwait City scuppered China's dream of reaching the World Cup finals for a second time following their debut appearance at the 2002 tournament.
Kuwait's victory left them with an identical goal difference to China of plus 13. But the Gulf side advanced to the final round of qualifying by virtue of having scored one goal more, 15 to China's 14.
China's humiliating exit spelt an end to the reign of coach Arie Haan, a member of the famous "Total Football" Netherlands teams of the 1970s who took over in the wake of the 2002 World Cup.
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