France cruised to a 2-1 victory over England in London yesterday as Les Bleus picked apart Fabio Capello’s makeshift side with a clinical display of passing football.
Goals in each half from Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena sealed an emphatic victory for France as England crashed to the first home defeat of Capello’s two-and-a-half-year reign.
England’s goal came from Peter Crouch on 86 minutes, the Tottenham striker scoring with his first touch after replacing Steven Gerrard who limped off clutching his leg late on.
Injuries to first-choice players including Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe had given Capello the opportunity to blood several new faces in his starting line-up.
But if this performance at Wembley is anything to go by, England’s fans have little reason to be optimistic about the future after Capello’s side were outclassed for long periods by Laurent Blanc’s revitalised French side.
The selection of Newcastle striker Andy Carroll had dominated the headlines in the build-up, but the 21-year-old with the chequered disciplinary record, was barely involved before being substituted midway through the second half.
England’s miserable night was compounded when Gerrard limped off late in the game with what looked like a hamstring injury.
An own goal from Ciprian Marica handed Italy a hard-earned draw against Romania.
Marica nodded the ball into his own net in the 82nd minute after substitute Fabio Quagliarella had managed to get a touch to Andrea Pirlo’s corner.
Marica had earlier been poised to emerge as the hero for Romania after scoring the opener in the first half, but finished with a goal at both ends as the Azzurri battled back late on.
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli used the friendly in Klagenfurt’s Hypo Group Arena to try out young players, including Mario Balotelli of Manchester City.
Balotelli jeered
The former Inter striker earned his second start with the Azzurri and played well but lacked a finishing touch.
However, Balotelli appeared to be the subject of verbal abuse from the stands throughout, although it was unclear from which section of fans it was coming.
Prandelli handed debuts to Federico Balzaretti, Andrea Ranocchia, Alessandro Diamanti and Christian Ledesma.
In Doha, a brilliant solo goal in stoppage time by Lionel Messi earned Argentina a 1-0 victory over their arch-rivals Brazil.
The Barcelona superstar picked up the ball midway inside the Brazil half and weaved past four defenders before firing a low shot into the bottom-right corner with just a minute of added time to play.
It was Messi’s first ever goal against Brazil and allowed Argentina to record their first win against their old enemies since June 2005.
Messi’s strike also allowed coach Sergio Batista to celebrate victory in his first game in charge since he was confirmed as the long-term successor to Diego Maradona.
For Brazil it was a first defeat in four matches for new coach Mano Menezes, who had led his country to victories in his first three matches at the helm and had not previously seen his team concede a goal.
Milan forward Ronaldinho was making his first Brazil appearance since April 2009 and although he illuminated the game with some classy touches, he could not prise open the Argentine defence.
Germany closed their 2010 campaign with a dull goalless draw against Sweden away last night as coach Joachim Loew cast an eye to the future and gave four players their debuts.
Dortmund left-back Marcel Schmelzer, 22, and Mainz winger Lewis Holtby, 20, both made their debuts from the start with Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger captaining the team.
Teenager Mario Goetze became the youngest German player since 1954 to make his debut when he came on, aged just 18 years and 167 days, with Mainz’s 20-year-old Andre Schuerrle as the pair also made their debut.
Star names like Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mueller, striker Miroslav Klose and defender Philipp Lahm, who helped Germany finish third at the World Cup, were all missing at Gothenburg’s Nya Ullevi Stadium.
This was Germany’s first goalless draw for five years when they drew with France in Paris in a friendly and the hosts were rarely tested by a limited Germany side.
Results and fixtures
Group E
Finland 8
Vayrynen 39; Hamalainen 49, 67; Forssell 51, 59, 78; Litmanen 71 pen; Porokara 73;
San Marino 0
March 25
Hungary vs Netherlands
Group F
Croatia 3
Kranjcar 19, 42; Kalinic 82;
Malta 0
March 26
Israel vs Latvia; Georgia vs Croatia; Malta vs Greece.
March 29
Israel vs Georgia
Summaries
Albania 0
Macedonia 0
Argentina 1
Messi 90;
Brazil 0
Austria 1
Fuchs 67;
Greece 2
Samaras 48; Fotakis 81;
Bulgaria 0
Serbia 1
Zigic 80;
Red card: Zigic (S) 90.
China 1
Xu 90;
Latvia 0
Denmark 0
Czech Rep.0
Missed penalty: Krohn-Dehli (D) 18.
Egypt 3
Zaher 29; Gado 60; Zidan 90;
Australia 0
England 1
Crouch 86;
France 2
Benzema 16; Valbuena 55;
Estonia 1
Vassiljev 57 pen;
Liechtenstein 1
Frick 35;
Holland 1
Huntelaar 52;
Turkey 0
Hong Kong 0
Paraguay 7
Cruz 4, 32; Barreto 30; Ortigoza 46, 54; Riveros 74, 90;
Hungary 2
Priskin 61; Dzsudzsak 80;
Lithuania 0
Ireland 1
Long 5 pen.;
Norway 2
Pedersen 34; Huseklepp 86;
Israel 3
Damari 5, 14; Rafaelov 27
Iceland 2
Finnbogason 78; Sigthorsson 84;
Italy 1
Marica 82 og;
Romania 1
Marica 34;
Luxembourg 0
Algeria 0
Montenegro 2
Pejovic 62; Beciraj 74;
Azerbaijan 0
N. Ireland 1
Patterson 86 pen;
Morocco 1
Chamakh 56;
Poland 3
Lewandowski 19; Lewandowski 80; Obraniak 65
Ivory Coast 1
Gervinho 45;
Portugal 4
Martins 45; Ramos 49 og; Postiga 68; Almeida 90;
Spain 0
Russia 0
Belgium 2
Lukaku 2, 73;
Slovakia 2
Sebo 3; Grajciar 64
Bosnia 3
Medunjanin 28; Pjanic 50; Dzeko 60;
Slovenia 1
Cesar 51;
Georgia 2
Guruli 67; Ananidze 68;
South Africa 0
USA 1
Agudelo 84;
Sweden 0
Germany 0
Switzerland 2
Frei 40, 63;
Ukraine 2
Aliyev 48; Konoplianka 75;