Germany 2-2 Ivory Coast
The Germans came back with a bang after the shocking death of Robert Enke. Previously, they had cancelled the friendly versus Chile after receiving the devastating news.
The German’s were still emotional and it could be seen when captain Michael Ballack placed Enke’s number one shirt on the bench among the substitutes.
Ivory Coast paid their respects by wearing T-shirts which bore a portrait of Enke with the words ‘in memoriam Robert Enke’.
Germany went ahead in the 12th minute after Stefan Kiessling was brought down in the area by Hamburg’s Guy Demel and Podolski took full advantage from the spot. Eboue leveled for Ivory Coast in the 57th minute and later tool the lead through Seydou Doumbia. Late into added time Lukas Podolski struck another to get the score all square.
Italy 1-0 Sweden
Defender Giorgio Chiellini helped the World Champions record a win over Sweden, from Cristian Maggio’s corner-kick. The Italian’s played with an experimental side in preparations for the World Cup next near.
The Swedes could have equalized before half-time. Anders Svensson’s bullet strike from outside the area went just wide of the far post.
Sweden were with their new coach Erik Hamren. The Swedes didn’t qualify for the World Cup.
Denmark 3-1 USA
The Danes were trailing at half-time, after USA took the lead through Jeff Cunningham’s 27th-minute strike.
However, Demark made a thrilling comeback after the first-half. First Johan Absalonsen struck two minutes into the second half, followed by two goals in three minutes from Soren Rieks (52) and Martin Bernburg (55).
Netherlands 0-0 Paraguay
Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar had an excellent game, keeping Holland at bay. Both teams were without enough attacking force which can be seen through the scoreline.
Austria 1-5 Spain
Spain have shown why they are the World Cup favourites. The European Champions went behind in the eighth minute after a Jakob Jantscher strike, but cameback two minutes later with Fabregas. From then on there was no turning back, they went on to score 5 goals- David Villa hitting 2, Fabregas 1, Dani Güiza 1 and Pablo Hernandez adding to the tally.
Austria went down to 10-men when Yasin Pehlivan was shown a straight red card in the 26th minute for a late challenge on Sergi Busquets.
Spain have an amazing record winning 41 out of their last 44 fixtures.
In the previous friendly Spain won 2-1 against Argentina.
Bulgaria 4-1 Malta
Bulgaria had a tough match against Malta, even more so than the score suggests. Bulgaria’s Valeri Bojinov’s fifth-minute strike saw the visitors to half-time with a 1-0 advantage, but Michael Mifsud levelled just a minute after the break. Bulgaria added to the tally through two strikes from Berbatov and one from Blagoy.
Other Friendlies as per ESPN soccernet
Macedonia 1-1 Iran
Goran Pandev’s goal earned Macedonia a 1-1 draw away to Iran. Andranik Teymourian (36) put the hosts ahead, but Lazio forward Pandev levelled four minutes after the interval.
Montenegro 1-0 Belarus
Montenegro beat 10-man Belarus 1-0 in Podgorica. The visitors had Dimitry Verkhovtsov sent off in the 68th minute and were made to pay eight minutes from time when Roma striker Mirko Vucinic scored the only goal.
Poland 1-0 Canada
Maciej Rybus scored 19th minute as Poland beat Canada 1-0 at the Slaski Stadium in Silesia, while Angola and Ghana shared a goalless draw in Luanda.
Honduras 2-1 Peru
Honduras didn’t have the best of World Cup warm-ups as they crashed 2-1 to Peru, partially thanks to an own goal by Emilio Izaguirre. David Suazo levelled before Rainer Torres headed the winner for the South Americans.
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