World Cup countdown: Spain 2 France 0
[2] 
[0]
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.
Related Posts:
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.
Related Posts:
Manchester United win Carling Cup for 2010
Rooney, on as a substitute for the injured Michael Owen after being initially left on the bench, powered a magnificent header past Brad Friedel from 10 yards out to win it for the holders with just 16 minutes remaining.
That capped a fine comeback from the Barclays Premier League champions, who recovered from the shock of going behind inside five minutes to win 2-1.
James Milner scored from the spot after Nemanja Vidic hauled down Gabriel Agbonlahor inside the United box.
United were level after 13 minutes when Dimitar Berbatov dispossessed Richard Dunne before racing into the Villa box.
Dunne got back well to slide in and take the ball away from the Bulgarian, but only diverted it into the path of Owen, who fired home unerringly past Friedel.
Owen looked as sharp as he has all season in troubling the Villa defence constantly, but his afternoon ended early as he injured his hamstring running onto a Berbatov pass.
Rooney replaced him and United, after weathering that early storm, gradually turned the screw as they dominated possession.
The excellent Park Ji-Sung hit a post with a left-foot shot while Friedel produced an excellent save to deny Michael Carrick.
But United finally went ahead for the first time on 74 minutes as Rooney did brilliantly to get sufficient power to beat Friedel from Antonio Valencia’s right-wing cross.
It was almost 3-1 soon after as Rooney hit a post with another powerful header, and Villa almost levelled when a Stewart Downing cross flicked off the head of Vidic before bouncing off the United bar.
Villa threw Dunne forward in the closing minutes but he headed wide in a desperate finale as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side hung on to retain the trophy.
Related Posts:
Premier League New Season Guide
Below are a summary of the pre-season transfer as at 11 August 2009.
ARSENAL
Transfer in – Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax ( £11m).
Last season position – 4th
ASTON VILLA
Transfer in – Stewart Downing from Middlesbrough (£12m), Courtney Cameron from Northampton (undisclosed/U), Fabian Delph from Leeds United (U), Habib Beye from Newcastle (U).
Last season position – 6th
BIRMINGHAM
Transfer in – Christian Benitez from Santos Laguna (£7.8m), Roger Johnson from Cardiff City (£5m), Scott Dann from Coventry City (£2.5m), Barry Ferguson from Rangers (£1.5m), Giovanny Espinoza from Barcelona (U), Joe Hart from Manchester City (loan) and Lee Bowyer from West Ham (free transfer).
Last season position – 2nd (Championship league)
BLACKBURN
Transfer in – Nikos Giannakopoulos from Asteras Tripolis (£52,000), Steven N’Zonzi from Amiens SC (U), Gael Givet from Marseille (U), Elrio Van Heerden from Bruges (free), Franco di Santo from Chelsea (loan)
Last season position – 15th
BOLTON
Transfer in – Zat Knight from Aston Villa (U), Sam Ricketts from Hull (U), Paul Robinson from West Bromwich (loan), Sean Davis from Portsmouth (free)
Last season position – 13th
BURNLEY
Transfer in – Steven Fletcher from Hibs (£3m), Tyrone Mears from Derby (£500,000), Brian Easton from Hamilton (£350,000), David Edgar from Newcastle (free0, Richard Eckersley from Man Utd (tribunal), Fernando Guerrero from Independiente (loan).
Last season position – 3rd (Championship League)
CHELSEA
Transfer in – Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Mascow (£18m), Daniel Sturridge from Man City (U), Ross Turnbull from Middlesbrough (free)
Last season position – 3rd
EVERTON
Transfer in – Anton Peterlin from Ventura County Fusion (U), Luke Garbutt from Leds (U), Jo from Man City (loan), Shkodran Mustafi from Hamburg (free)
Last season position – 5th
FULHAM
Transfer in – Bjorn Helge Riise from Lillestrom (U), Stephen Kelly from Birmingham (free)
Last season position – 7th
HULL CITY
Transfer in – Steven Mouyokolo from Boulogne (£2m), Seyi Olofinjana from Stoke (£3m), Jozy Altidore from Villarreal (loan)
Last season position – 17th
LIVERPOOL
Transfer in – Glen Johnson from Portsmouth (£17.5m), Aaron King from Rushden & Diamonds (U), Chris Mavinga from Paris St Germain (U), Alberto Aguilani from Roma (£20m)
Last season position – 2nd
MANCHESTER CITY
Transfer in – Carlos Tevez (£25m), Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn (£17m), Kolo Toure from Arsenal (£16m), Gareth Barry from Aston Villa (£12m), Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal (U), Loris Karius from Stuttgart (free), Nils Zander from Schalke 04 (free), Stuart Taylor from Aston Villa (free)
Last season position – 10th
MANCHESTER UNITED
Transfer in – Antonio Valencia from Wigan (£17m), Gariel Obertan from Bordeaux (£3m), Sean McGinty from Charlton (U), Michael Owen (free), Jean-Pierre Louvel from Le Havre (U), Mame Biram Diouf from Molde (U)
Last season position – 1st
PORTSMOUTH
Transfer in – Aaron Mokoena from Blackburn Rovers (free), Steve Finnan from Espanyol (free), Frederic Piquionne from Lyon (loan), Antti Niemi (free)
Last season position – 14th
STOCK CITY
Transfer in – Dean Whitehead from Sunderland (£3m), Matthew Lund (free), Ben Marshall (free)
Last season position – 12th
SUNDERLAND
Transfer in – Lorik Cana from Marseille (£5m), Fraizer Campbell from Man Utd (£3.5m), Paulo da Silva from Toulca (U), Darren Bent from Spurs (£10m)
Last season position – 16th
TOTTENHAM
Transfer in – Peter Crouch from Portsmouth (U), Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker from Sheffield United (U), Sebastien Bassong from Newcastle (£9m)
Last season position – 8th
WEST HAM UNITED
Transfer in – Fabio Daprela from Grssshopper Club Zurich (U), Peter Kurucz from Ujpest FC (U), Jack Lampe from Harlow Town (U), Herita Llunga from Toulouse (U), Frank Nouble from Chelsea (U), Luis Jimenez from Inter Milan (loan)
Last season position – 9th
WIGAN ATHLETIC
Transfer in – Jason Scotland from Swansea (£2m), Jordi Gomez from Swansea (£1.75m), Hendry Thomas from Deportivo Olimpia (U), James McCarthy from Hamilton (U), Scott Sinclair from Chelsea (loan), Roman Golobart from Espanyol (free), Abian Serano from Las Palmas (free)
Last season position – 11th
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Transfer in – Kevin Doyle from Reading (£6.5m), Greg Halford from Sunderland (£2m), Ronald Zubar from Marseille (£2m), Andrew Surman from Southampton (£1.2m), Nenad Milijas from Red Star Belgrade (U), Marcus Hahnemann from Reading (free)
Last season position – 1st (Championship league)
Related Posts:
Liverpool confirmed selling Alonso to Real
Liverpool have agreed a fee with Real Madrid for the transfer of midfielder Xabi Alonso.
The deal is now subject to Alonso passing a medical on Wednesday.
A statement on Liverpool’s website added: “The terms of the deal will remain confidential and undisclosed.”
Real Madrid have been courting Alonso for much of the summer, and he is set to join the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema at the Bernabeu.
Manager Rafael Benitez was keen to keep hold of the Spain international, who he signed from Real Sociedad in 2004.
Alonso has formed an impressive central midfield partnership with Javier Mascherano and was one of the club’s most consistent performers last season.