World champions Spain return to action today in their first match since retaining their European title, as countries gear up for the start of qualifying for the World Cup.
Spain, no.1 in the FIFA rankings, take on Puerto Rico, who are 137 places below them, in Bayamon tonight, with Vicente del Bosque opting to rest Barcelona veterans Xavi Hernandez and Carles Puyol.
Also omitted from the 19-man squad is winger Jordi Alba, who is rested after his inclusion in Spain’s Olympic football side.
Spain were in outstanding form when they beat Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final on July 1 and the Azzurri are looking to pick themselves up with a positive warm-up against England.
The match in Bern is a re-run of the Euro 2012 quarter-final, which Italy won 4-2 on penalties, but they will be without Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli was one of the stars of the tournament, scoring three times, including twice in the semi-final against Germany. He was also absent from City’s 3-2 win over Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday.
Roy Hodgson named a young side for the friendly, leaving John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard out as they prepare for the start of the Premier League.
But the England manager faces an injury dilemma, with Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (ankle), goalkeeper Joe Hart (back), Daniel Sturridge (toe) and Theo Walcott (thigh) all sidelined.
Elsewhere, Germany play Argentina in Frankfurt, with coach Joachim Loew also choosing to rest key players like Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Loew has also left out keeper Tim Wiese, Per Mertesacker in defence and Lukas Podolski up front from the 22 who went to Euro 2012.
First-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has also withdrawn after picking up an injury in last weekend’s Super Cup, which his side Bayern Munich won 2-1, taking revenge on Borussia Dortmund who last season beat them to the Bundesliga title and German Cup.
Klose option
Miroslav Klose is the only acknowledged centre-forward, in the absence of Mario Gomez, who is recovering from a heel operation.
For the Argentinians, Benfica’s Enzo Perez has been called up to replace injured Newell’s Old Boys winger Maxi Rodriguez (knee).
France play Uruguay in Le Havre, in Didier Deschamps’s first match in charge.
World Cup 1998 winner Deschamps has left out Yann M’Vila and Hatem Ben Arfa because of disciplinary issues at Euro 2012, while Samir Nasri and Jeremy Menez are serving suspensions for misconduct.
The former Marseille manager has called up PSG’s Christophe Jallet, Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane and Etienne Capoue, of Toulouse, for the first time.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, of Montpellier makes a return but there was no place for Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda, Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye, Valencia’s Adil Rami and Philippe Mexes of Milan.
In other matches, former England boss Fabio Capello takes charge of Russia for the first time in their game against Ivory Coast in Moscow and has included controversial captain Andrei Arshavin.
Russia crashed out of Euro 2012 at the group stage and Arshavin was on the receiving end of criticism for dismissing the team’s below-par performance as a problem for the fans rather than the players.
Another manager returning to international action is Louis van Gaal, who took over from Bert van Marwijk as Dutch coach after a poor Euro 2012 campaign.
The Dutch play Marc Wilmot’s Belgium in Brussels.
World Cup 2014 hosts Brazil, who do not have to qualify, take on Sweden in Solna.
Today’s friendlies
Albania vs Moldova
Armenia vs Belarus
Austria vs Turkey
Azerbaijan vs Bahrain
Belgium vs Netherlands
Bulgaria vs Cyprus
Croatia vs Switzerland
Denmark vs Slovakia
England vs Italy
Estonia vs Poland
France vs Uruguay
Germany vs Argentina
Hungary vs Israel
Iceland vs Faroe Islands
Luxembourg vs Georgia
Macedonia vs Lithuania
Montenegro vs Latvia
N. Ireland vs Finland
Norway vs Greece
Portugal vs Panama
Puerto Rico vs Spain
Russia vs Ivory Coast
Scotland vs Australia
Serbia vs Ireland
Slovenia vs Romania
Sweden vs Brazil
Ukraine vs Czech Rep.
Wales vs Bosnia