Ribery penalty spoils Beckham century

A first-half penalty from Franck Ribery spoiled David Beckham's 100th appearance for England by giving France a 1-0 friendly win at the Stade de France yesterday.

Midfielder Ribery marked a superb performance by scoring from the spot against the run of play in the 32nd minute after Nicolas Anelka was brought down by keeper David James.

The 32-year-old Beckham started the match to become only the fifth English player in 136 years of international soccer to achieve a century of appearances for his country.

He worked tirelessly on the right wing and sent over a series of trademark crosses and long passes but also received a first-half booking for checking Ribery before being replaced by David Bentley after 63 minutes.

He left the field to a standing ovation from both the French and English supporters.

"I'm very honoured," he told Sky Sports.

"From when I started playing I never dreamed I'd get to 100 and beyond. It's every player's dream to play for their country let alone get 100 caps.

"I'm happy but I want to carry on."

England, who failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals and have not beaten France in Paris in five matches since a 3-1 friendly win in 1949, fought bravely before the break but gradually conceded midfield possession to the French who finished the stronger side.

Despite being at fault for the penalty which was similar to the one James conceded against France in Euro 2004 when he upended Thierry Henry, the goalkeeper had a good game and thwarted numerous French scoring chances in the second half.

Germany got their Euro 2008 preparations back on track with an emphatic 4-0 win over tournament co-hosts Switzerland.

Two goals from Mario Gomez in between strikes from Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski secured a comfortable win for Joachim Loew's side who have now gone 51 years and 18 matches without losing to their southern neighbours.

Klose put Germany ahead in the 23rd minute when a Gomez pass squirmed beneath Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio, allowing the Bayern Munich striker to tap in his 38th international goal.

Gomez made sure of victory with two clinical second-half strikes in the space of six minutes, before substitute Podolski compounded Switzerland's misery after beating the offside trap in the 88th minute.

Midfielder Georgos Karagounis struck twice to give European champions Greece a 2-1 win over Portugal.

Greece, who beat Portugal 1-0 in the Euro 2004 final in Lisbon, went ahead when the former Benfica player lashed home a stunning 20-metre free-kick after 33 minutes. Karagounis made it 2-0 from another 20-metre free-kick 26 minutes later.

Portugal, without Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Jorge Andrade, piled on the pressure and were rewarded when striker Nuno Gomes tapped in after good work by substitute Hugo Almeida in the 75th minute.

Villa stunner sinks Italy

David Villa hit a spectacular volley to earn Spain a 1-0 win over world champions Italy.

The Valencia striker fired the ball into the top corner past a helpless Gianluigi Buffon 13 minutes from time after Fabio Cannavaro had headed the ball clear of his area.

Spain enjoyed the lion's share of possession but carried little threat in attack until Villa's stunning strike.

The victory extended Spain's unbeaten streak to 14 matches.

"We had very good chances. We didn't deserve to lose and they scored a really great goal," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni told Rai television.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar hit a late winner for the Netherlands to cap a superb fightback from 3-0 down to seal a 4-3 win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria.

Austria had taken a three-goal lead, going ahead after six minutes through captain Andreas Ivanschitz.

Sebastian Proedl headed home an Ivanschitz corner to make it 2-0 after 18 minutes and the duo combined again for Proedl to add a third.

Huntelaar began the Dutch fightback eight minutes before the break, John Heitinga got another midway through the second half and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink equalised eight minutes from time.