Zimpapers Logo

PARIS.
England overcame a stuttering start to edge out Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen on Wednesday night with Aston Villa pair Darren Bent and Ashley Young cancelling out an early effort from Liverpool’s Daniel Agger.
Young scored his first goal for his country to give Fabio Capello’s men a fillip ahead of their Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales next month.
“I am happy with the result and the performance of some players,” Capello told ITV afterwards,” after England registered a win despite the absence of such experienced stars as Steven Gerrard and new Liverpool teammate Andy Carroll, who made his debut in last autumn’s loss to France but who is currently injured.
Capello praised Arsenal teenager Jack Wilshere, who was substituted at half-time following an encouraging showing.
“Wilshere in the first half played with confidence and it was an interesting debut,” Capello said.
In another of a whole raft of friendlies across Europe France thanked a second half goal from Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema as Laurent Blanc’s men saw off Brazil 1-0 at the Stade de France in the two countries’ first meeting since the 1998 World Cup final at the same Stade de France venue which the French won 3-0.
Brazil put themselves under pressure after midfielder Hernanes was red-carded five minutes before the break for placing his studs in Benzema’s chest.
Blanc, determined to bring the French back to the forefront of the European game after their humiliating flop, marked by a player strike, during last summer’s World Cup, praised his side for showing the talent in Les Bleus’ revamped squad since he took over last July.
“Playing against Brazil is to play against the yardstick of world football — even if they are down to ten men. So we are very satisfied with score and with the whole team and the group,” Blanc told broadcaster TF1.
Brazil counterpart Mano Menezes said the sending-off changed everything.
“The red card had a major influence. In the second half things changed with us being a player down,” insisted Menezes, adding he felt the dismissal was a little harsh as “these things happen on the pitch.”
Menezes added he was determined to blood a young side. “It would be easy to hark back to Kaka or Ronaldinho, but that’s not what we are about. We are looking to the future, to 2014,” when Brazil will host the World Cup.
Elsewhere, Germany failed to break their 15-year winless run against Italy as visiting striker Giuseppe Rossi came off the bench to score a late equaliser and seal a 1-1 draw in Dortmund, cancelling out Miroslav Klose’s first-half goal for Joachim Loew’s side.
The Bayern Munich forward’s strike was his 59th on his 106th appearance as he draws closer to Gerd Mueller’s all-time Germany record of 68 goals.
World champions Spain had to wait until four minutes from the end of their match with Colombia at the Bernabeu for David Silva to net the only goal while the team they beat in last year’s World Cup final, Holland, overcame Austria 3-1 in Eindhoven with Wesley Sneijder, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Dirk Kuyt from the penalty spot hitting the goals. The win was achieved without several regulars, including Nigel de Jong, Rafael van der Vaart, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben.
Argentina saw off Portugal 2-1 in Geneva with Lionel Messi netting a late penalty winner after Christiano Ronaldo had looked like saving a draw for the Portuguese. Ronaldo’s clubmate Angel Di Maria had netted the Argentine opener.
Results of international friendlies on Wednesday
At Madrid — Spain 1 (Silva 86), Colombia 0; At Trabzon, Turkey — Turkey 0, South Korea 0; At Pula, Croatia — Croatia 4 (Da Silva 10, Kalinic 13, 61, Ilicevic 75), Czech Republic 2 (Sivok 20, Rosicky 45+1); At Antalya, Turkey – Belarus 1 (V. Hleb 44-pen), Kazakhstan 1 (Ostapenko 90); At Limassol, Cyprus – Armenia 1 (Manucharyan 67-pen), Georgia 2 (Iashvili 22, Siradze 34); At Chisinau — Moldova 2 (Picisciac 66, Bugaiov 90), Andorra 1 (Manuel Ayala 52); At Larissa, Greece — Greece 1 (Fetfatzidis 63), Canada 0; At Abu Dhabi — Russia 0, Iran 1 (Khalatbari 90); At Antalya, Turkey — Latvia 2 (Verpakovskis 42-pen, Cauna 49-pen), Bolivia 1 (Arce 57-pen); At Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Azerbaijan 0, Hungary 2 (Gergely 37, Hajnal 80); At Skopje — Macedonia 0, Cameroon 1 (Mathhew Mbuta 75); At Antalya, Turkey — Bulgaria 2 (I.Popov 41-pen, 83-pen), Estonia 2 (K.Vassiljev 20-pen, 80-pen); At Tel Aviv — Israel 0, Serbia 2 (Tosic 23, Trivunovic 76); At Copenhagen — Denmark 1 (Agger 8), England 2 (Bent 10, Young 68); At Luxembourg — Luxembourg 2 (Da Mota 61, 81), Slovakia 1 (Jenrisek 56); At Tirana — Albania 1 (Bulku 62), Slovenia 2 (Bacinovic 21, Dedid 89-pen); At Ghent, Belgium — Belgium 1 (Witsel 62), Finland 1 (Porokara 90+3); At Eindhoven, Netherlands — Holland 3 (Sneijder 28, Huntelaar 48, Kuyt 71-pen), Austria 1 (Arnautovic 84-pen); At Dortmund, Germany — Germany 1 (Klose 16), Italy 1 (Rossi 81); At Paris — France 1 (Benzema 55), Brazil 0; At Faro, Portugal — Poland 1 (Lewandowski 19), Norway 0; At Geneva — Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 21), Argentina 2 (Di Maria 14, Messi 89-pen). — AFP.