Germany and France find form as England lose
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Article summary
Germany beat Italy 4-1, France edged Russia 4-2 and Portugal overcame Belgium 2-1 in Tuesday's friendlies but England and Switzerland suffered home defeats by non-qualifiers.
Article top media content
Article body
- Full pre-UEFA EURO 2016 friendly fixture list
- Full rundown of March friendlies
- UEFA EURO 2016 final tournament fixtures
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: European Qualifiers
Germany 4-1 Italy (Kroos 24, Götze 45, Hector 59, Özil 75; El Shaarawy 83)
Germany: Ter Stegen; Rüdiger, Mustafi, Hummels; Rudy, Hector (Ginter 85); Kroos (Kramer 90), Özil; Müller (Can 69), Draxler (Volland 85); Götze (Reus 61)
Italy: Buffon; Darmian, Bonucci (Ranocchia 61), Acerbi; Motta (Parolo 68), Montolivo; Florenzi (De Silvestri 61), Giaccherini (El Shaarawy 69); Bernardeschi, Zaza (Antonelli 78), Insigne (Okaka 68)
A fine defensive display and clinical efficiency up front helped Germany inflict a heavy defeat on Italy in Munich to bounce back from Saturday's loss to England in Berlin. Thomas Müller, who captained Joachim Löw's team for the first time, set up both Toni Kroos and Mario Götze in the first half, before Jonas Hector opened his Germany account and Mesut Özil converted a penalty. Italy rarely threatened but managed a consolation when Stephan El Shaarawy's shot from distance was deflected in by his Roma team-mate Antonio Rüdiger.
England 1-2 Netherlands (Vardy 41; Janssen 50p, Narsingh)
England: Forster; Walker, Stones, Smalling (Jagielka 70), Rose (Clyne 58); Milner (Alli 82), Drinkwater (Dier 85), Barkley, Lallana (Kane 70); Sturridge (Walcott 58), Vardy
As planned, England manager Roy Hodgson made eight changes from the XI that began the 3-2 win in Germany, Danny Drinkwater getting a debut and Daniel Sturridge returning after 18 months out of the team. Drinkwater's Leicester City colleague Jamie Vardy, who came off the bench to score in Berlin, broke the deadlock at Wembley, finishing off a fine move involving John Stones, Adam Lallana and Kyle Walker. The visitors equalised when Vincent Janssen, on his first international start, blasted in a penalty following a Danny Rose handball and substitute Luciano Narsingh ensured England lost for only the second time in 18 matches since the FIFA World Cup, their first home defeat since November 2013.
France 4-1 Russia(Kanté 8, Gignac 38, Payet 64, Coman 76; Kokorin 56, Zhirkov 68)
France: Lloris; Evra (Mathieu 46, Digne 54), Sakho, Varane, Sagna; Diarra, Kanté, Pogba (Sissoko 69); Gignac (Giroud 79), Griezmann (Payet 62), Martial (Coman 46)
Russia: Akinfeev (Lodygin 46); V Berezutskiy, A Berezutskiy, Kuzmin, Zhirkov (Smolnikov 69); Golovin (Glushakov 79), Dzagoev; Shirokov (Mamaev 69), Shatov (Samedov 88), Kokorin (Smolov 80); Dzyuba
N'Golo Kanté, on his 25th birthday and making his first France start, notched his maiden international goal from Antoine Griezmann's pass into the box to set in motion a thriller at Stade de France. Griezmann's free-kick was met by an André-Pierre Gignac diving header for the second. Alekandr Kokorin pulled one back but then France's other birthday boy, Dimitri Payet, celebrated turning 29 with a long-range free-kick. Yuri Zhirkov gave Russia fresh hope but a delicate angled shot from substitute Kingsley Coman finished a spell of four goals in 20 minutes. Les Bleus return here in 73 days for the UEFA EURO 2016 opener against Romania. Jérémy Mathieu was brought on at half-time but forced off injured soon after.
Portugal 2-1 Belgium (Nani 20, Ronaldo 40; Romelu Lukaku 62)
Portugal: Rui Patrício; Cedric, Pepe, José Fonte, Raphael Guerreiro; Danilo (Danny 87), Adrien Silva (Renato Sanches 45), André Gomes (William Carvalho), João Mário (Bernardo Silva 45); Nani (Eder 61), Ronaldo (Quaresma 61)
Belgium: Courtois; Gillet (J Lukaku 59), Denayer (Boyata 86), Vermaelen, Lombaerts; Nainggolan, Witsel, Fellaini (Dembele 79); Chadli, Mertens (Batshuayi 67), R Lukaku
In a game switched from Brussels to Leiria after last week's events in Belgium, Portugal fielded the same mobile attacking system as in Friday's 1-0 home loss to Bulgaria, but this time there were goals. Cristiano Ronaldo hit the bar on 12 minutes and then Nani made the breakthrough. Ronaldo, who missed a penalty four days ago, found the net with a header that gave Thibaut Courtois no chance and although injury-hit Belgium reduced the deficit when substitute Jordan Lukaku set up brother Romelu to register, Portugal held on.
Sweden 1-1 Czech Republic (Berg 14; Vydra 26)
Sweden: Isaksson; Salomonsson (Lustig 81), Nilsson Lindelöf (Milosevic 65), Granqvist, Olsson; Durmaz (Larsson 45), Lewicki (Wernbloom 63), Källström (Hiljemark 45), Forsberg; Ibrahimović, Berg (Guidetti 45)
Czech Republic: Vaclík; Gebre Selassie, Sivok (Brabek 60), Suchý, Pudil; Darida (Frydek 60), Marecek (Rada 72); Skalák (Sural 60), Kolár, Krejcí; Vydra (Necid 72)
Sweden and the Czech Republic created plenty of chances but only one goal apiece. Most of the action came in the first half, with Zlatan Ibrahimović and Emil Forsberg both denied by Tomás Vaclík from close range while at the other end a strong Theodor Gebre Selassie shot stung Andreas Isaksson's palms. Marcus Berg and Matej Vydra provided the efforts that counted. The second half saw plenty of substitutions but few openings of note.
Austria 1-2 Turkey (Junuzović 22; Çalhanoğlu 43, Arda 56)
Austria: Özcan; Fuchs, Dragović (Prödl 59), Hinteregger, Klein (Garics 78); Alaba (Schöpf 78), Ilsanker; Arnautović, Junuzović (Hinterseer 72), Burgstaller (Jantscher 66); Okotie (Janko 66)
Turkey: Volkan Babacan; Gökhan Gönül (Şener Özbayraklı 46), Ahmet Çalık, Mehmet Topal, Caner Erkin (İsmail Köybaşı 69); Ozan Tufan, Selçuk İnan, Oğuzhan Özyakup (Volkan Şen 46, Yasin Öztekin 80); Arda Turan, Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Yunus Mallı 73); Cenk Tosun (Nuri Şahin 86)
A mixture of missed opportunities up front and individual mistakes at the back cost Austria against their fellow finalists in Vienna. Both teams showed attacking intent from the start but it was Marcel Koller's side who carved out the bulk of the chances. Zlatko Junuzović finished off a fine cutback from Marko Arnautović midway through the first half and Austria looked set to extend their advantage. However, Hakan Çalhanoğlu scored with a dream free-kick on the half-time whistle and then Arda Turan pounced on a blunder by goalkeeper Ramazan Özcan to put Turkey ahead. Austria had chances to equalise, yet to no avail.
Republic of Ireland 2-2 Slovakia (Long 21, McClean 23; Stoch 13, McShane 44og)
Ireland: Elliot (Randolph 16); Christie, McShane, O'Shea (Pearce 46), Ward (Hayes 78); O'Kane (Pilkington 66), Whelan, McCarthy; Hoolahan (McGeady 73), McClean; Long (Brady 46)
Slovakia: Kozáčik, Pekarík, Škrtel, Saláta, Švento (Tesák 88); Sabo (Duda 64), Greguš (Hrošovský 74), Šesták (Weiss 64), Hamšíik; Stoch (Mak 64); Vittek (Nemec 64)
Ireland extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 2-2 home draw against Slovakia. But for the second time in five days, boss Martin O'Neill was left with a serious injury concern, goalkeeper Rob Elliot carried off on a stretcher 16 minutes into the first half with a knee problem; striker Kevin Doyle was hurt in the first half of last week's win over Switzerland. Miroslav Stoch had fired past Elliot on 13 minutes, before Ireland went 2-1 up with two penalties in the space of two minutes from Shane Long and James McClean. Home defender Paul McShane, under pressure from Róbert Vittek, inadvertently turned the ball past Darren Randolph on 44 minutes to level matters.
Greece 2-3 Iceland (Fortounis 19p 31; Traustason 34, Ingason 70, Sigthórsson 82)
Iceland: Kristinsson (Halldórsson 46); Sævarsson, Hermannsson, Ingason, Skúlason; Gudmundsson, Gunnarsson (B Bjarnason 46), Hallfredsson (Sigurdsson 46), Traustason (E Bjarnason 46); Bödvarsson (Finnbogason 83), Kjartansson (Sigthórsson 61)
Iceland made eight changes from Thursday's 2-1 loss in Denmark but again they started slowly with a 3-5-2 formation and were two down inside 31 minutes. However, this time the Icelanders fought back as Arnór Traustason claimed his third goal in six appearances to revive the visitors. Defender Sverrir Ingason then equalised with his first strike at international level and substitute Kolbeinn Sigthórsson won it.
Luxembourg 0-2 Albania (Sadiku 63, Çikalleshi 75)
Albania: Berisha (Shehi 61); Ajeti (Roshi 67), Aliji (Lenjani 60), Xhimshiti, Veseli; Kukeli (Kaçe 46), Basha, Memushaj (Rashica 61), Gashi, Shala (Sadiku 61); Çikalleshi
Albania secured their first victory since qualifying for UEFA EURO 2016 with two second-half goals. Roared on by 3,000 Albanians in Luxembourg, the away side received a further boost when home goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert was sent off late in the first half for a professional foul on Sokol Çikalleshi. Not long after being introduced, Armando Sadiku nodded in a cross from fellow substitute Ergys Kaçe to break the deadlock and Çikalleshi showed his ability to double the lead.
Switzerland 0-2 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Džeko 14, Pjanić 57)
Switzerland: Sommer; Lichtsteiner (Lang 65), Schär (Klose 46), Senderos, Rodríguez (Moubandjé 66); Fernandes (Zuffi 46), Xhaka, Kasami (Tarashaj 72); Steffen, Seferović, Mehmedi (Embolo 46)
Switzerland's wait for a first win in Zurich since 2007 continued as, deprived of playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri, their attacking imagination was limited and their build-up often too static. Bosnia and Herzegovina deservedly went ahead inside 15 minutes through Edin Džeko and although Vladimir Petković's team showed signs of improvement after the interval, a superb Miralem Pjanić free-kick gave the guests a 2-0 advantage which they would not surrender.