Category — World Cup
World Cup countdown : Argentina 1 Germany 0
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Diego Maradona’s Argentina beat Germany 0-1 in a highly anticipated international friendly on Wednesday. The only goal of the match came from Gonzalo Higuain.
Argentina were by far the better side in the first half and came close to scoring the opening goal when Angel Di Maria got past two defenders and blasted a shot onto the German crossbar.
But the visitors did get a reward for their performance in the 45th minute. Goalkeeper Adler stormed out of the penalty area in an attempt to clear the ball, but missed and allowed Gonzalo Higuain to take advantage and score.
The second half showed a more balanced encounter with Germany spending more time on Argentina’s half, but Joachim Löw’s men failed to create any danger near the goal.
The Germans begin their World Cup Group D campaign against Australia on June 13, and face Serbia and Ghana in the remaining games. Argentina are drawn into Group B with Nigeria, Korea Republic and Greece.
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March 4, 2010 No Comments
World Cup countdown: Portugal 2 China 0
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Portugal earned a hard-fought 2-0 win over China PR in an international friendly played on Wednesday.
The city of Coimbra was the venue for the match, in which Portugal drew first blood through Hugo Almeida after 37 minutes.
The rather fruitless encounter never truly came to life, although Portugal did add a second goal four minutes into injury time as a Liedson strike was deflected by a defender.
The Portuguese face a tough challenge in South Africa, next June, as they share Group G with Cote d’Ivoire, Korea DPR and Brazil.
China did not qualify for the World Cup finals.
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World Cup countdown: England 3 Egypt 1
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England delivered a solid second-half performance to beat African champions Egypt 3-1 in a friendly on Wednesday.
It was no easy encounter for Fabio Capello’s side however as a very motivated Egyptian team impressed the home crowd at Wembley stadium in the first half.
The Africans even got the opening goal on 23 minutes, as Mohamed Zidan picked up the ball near the halfway line, got past a defender and struck past Rob Green for 0-1.
But England improved in the second half and equalised three minutes before the hour mark. Gareth Barry delivered the ball in the penalty area and Peter Crouch side-footed it home at the first post.
And the hosts went on to take the lead in the 75th minute, as keeper Al-Hadari initially parried a shot from James Milner but could not prevent that Shaun Wright-Phillips scored on the rebound.
The game was all but decided five minutes later. Crouch appeared to be offside when receiving a pass from Wright-Phillips, but was allowed to go on and netted the home team’s third of the night, 3-1.
England play the United States in their first group game on June 12, and face Algeria and Slovenia in the following matches. Egypt failed to qualify for the World Cup.
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World Cup countdown: Spain 2 France 0
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Spain confirmed their position among the World Cup favourites with a dominant 2-0 victory over France in their friendly match at the Stade de France here on Wednesday.
The European champions prevailed through first-half goals from David Villa and Sergio Ramos, inflicting upon their hosts a first defeat in 13 home games.
Worse for France was their powerlessness in the face of Spain’s masterful control of possession and the home fans made their feelings known at regular intervals by imploring under-fire coach Raymond Domenech to resign.
The enigmatic 58-year-old has seen his popularity plummet since leading France to the 2006 World Cup final and the defeat will increase calls for him to step down before this summer’s finals in South Africa.
The half-time introduction of Xavi and Fernando Torres presaged further misery for Domenech’s men, but although the scoreline remained the same, the damage had already been done.
Thierry Henry, representing his country for the first time since his infamous handball in the play-off victory over Ireland in November, was whistled when he left the field in the second half, while the French fans took to airing their frustrations by cheering every completed Spanish pass.
Florent Malouda headed against the post from fellow substitute Djibril Cisse’s right-wing cross in the 80th minute and it was to prove the closest the hosts came to a breakthrough.
Sevilla winger Jesus Navas almost made it 3-0 in injury time but his shot across goal from the inside-right channel flashed narrowly wide.
France had made an industrious start, with Franck Ribery a persistently menacing presence on the right of midfield.
The hosts, though, were playing with an untested centre-back pairing of debutant Michael Ciani and Julien Escude, and cracks quickly appeared.
Sergio Busquets gave the home side a warning in the 19th minute when he met a corner unmarked and flashed a header narrowly wide.
Two minutes later Spain went ahead, after David Silva dummied Andres Iniesta’s through-ball, flummoxing Escude and allowing Villa to stroll through and place the ball past Hugo Lloris.
The goal settled the visitors and they were content to sit deep behind the ball, inviting pressure from the French and looking to break forward on the counter-attack.
The crucial second goal arrived in first-half injury time.
Ramos cut infield from the right and let fly with his left foot, the ball flicking off Escude’s outstretched foot and leaving Lloris helpless.
The result leaves Domenech similarly exposed.
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World Cup countdown : Cameroon draw with Italy
African giants Cameroon held world champions Italy to a 0-0 draw in a dull World Cup finals warm-up international in Monaco on Wednesday.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi said that despite the 0-0 scoreline he had found the match a useful exercise.
“That was a very useful match, I had the chance to have a look at many players for the first time, even those who had already been in the squad before (when Lippi wasn’t coach)” he said.
Lippi used this fixture to have a look at new players and he picked an experimental line-up with a mix of regular first teamers such as captain Fabio Cannavaro and midfielder Andrea Pirlo while giving debuts to Cagliari midfielder Andrea Cossu and Bari right-back Leonardo Bonucci.
The unfamiliar nature of the Italy team possibly contributed to a first half which saw barely a chance created by either side.
Italy were marginally the more potent, although that speaks volumes about the lack of threat from Cameroon.
The world champions did have the ball in the net on 13 minutes but it was rightly ruled out for offside.
Cameroon goalkeeper Souleymanou Hamidou came for a corner but made an absolute hash of his attempt, yet inadvertently his actions saved his team from conceding as when Daniele De Rossi helped the ball forward, there was only one defender between Giorgio Chiellini and the goal.
There was the usual flood of half-time changes and one of the Italy substitutes, Juventus’s Claudio Marchisio, fashioned a chance for Antonio Di Natale, whose volley was deflected over.
With 16 minutes left Italy came close again but Hamidou did well to come out and smother Bonucci’s close range effort from Chiellini’s flick.
But Cameroon then had the best chance of the game as Pierre Webo was played in behind the Italy backline only for his first touch to be poor and allow Federico Marchetti to come out and smother on the edge of the box.
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March 4, 2010 1 Comment