There was a definite taste of the fast approaching World Cup finals in the air last night as the cream of the national teams were testing each other’s abilities across Europe and the globe. No less than 33 friendly internationals took place on Wednesday evening, with many of the countries who will be taking part in the finals in action, with some of them even playing against each other.
Last night, most eyes in the UK were on Wembley, and England’s friendly with African champions, Egypt. Before the action could begin, there had to be some kind of off-field drama. This time it was, how would the crowd greet recently deposed captain, John Terry and to everyone’s surprise, the reaction was subdued. England looked very smart in their World Cup winning red soccer uniforms.
On the field too, things were also pretty subdued, at least in the first half, Egypt showed why their second successive African cup of nations was not a fluke. They went down the half time tunnel leading 1-0 and justifiably too. If Sir Alex Ferguson has his effective “hair dryer” treatment, than Fabio Capello has his stony glare, which most people might find even more frightening. He must have been doing some glaring at half time, as England came out looking a different team in the second half. That most unlikely looking of soccer heroes Peter Crouch grabbed a brace and Sean Wright-Phillips slipped in a soft goal, to make for a fairly incisive 3-1 victory.
Elsewhere Scotland succeeded in winning 1-0 at Hampden against the Czech Republic. Neither team will be at the World Cup finals, and the only significant thing about the game was that it was new manager Craig Levien’s first in charge. Elsewhere Wales lost at home to Sweden and Northern Ireland had a very disappointing away defeat to lowly Albania.
Across the rest of Europe, there were some interesting matches taking place with probably most interest being in how Diego Maradona’s Argentina would fare against Germany. And they answer was that they did very well. In what will be their second last friendly before boarding the plane to SA, Argentina won 1-0 with a strike from Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain. Argentina looked a lot stronger in all departments than the lack luster German side.
Probably the most significant game of the night took place in Paris, where World Cup 2006 runners up took on Spain, the Euro 2008 Champions. Spain took the spoils, with goals from David Villa and Sergio Ramos in Spain’s first away victory over France for more than forty years. The victory showed why the Iberian superstars have now won 42 out of their last 45 internationals and have to be taken very seriously in the summer in South Africa.
Elsewhere Netherlands won over the United States by two goals to one, while reigning World Champions Italy were held to a tame goalless draw at home to Cameroon.
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