International Friendlies Review
Superb Spain bounced back from an early deficit to put 10-man Austria to the sword 5-1 in a one-sided international friendly.
Returning to the scene of their Euro 2008 final triumph over Germany, Spain suffered an early setback when Jakob Jantscher put Austria ahead, but Vicente del Bosque's all-conquering side.hit back in style to claim yet another impressive victory.
Cesc Fabregas drew the visitors level in the 10th minute before David Villa added two more goals before the break to move ever closer to Raul's national record.
By the time of Villa's second goal Austria had been reduced to 10 men after Yasin Pehlivan was shown a straight red card in the 26th minute for a late challenge on Sergi Busquets.
Del Bosque made five changes at the break but it was business as usual for the Spanish in the second half and substitutes Dani Guiza and Pablo Hernandez netted within 60 seconds of each other to make it 5-1 by the 57th minute.
There were no more goals after that, but Spain had already done more than enough to record their 41st victory - including two after extra-time - in their last 44 fixtures.
Lukas Podolski scored twice, including a 93rd-minute equaliser, as Germany's first match since the death of Robert Enke ended in a 2-2 draw against Ivory Coast.
The Cologne striker put the home side ahead at the Arena AufSchalke with an early penalty, but second-half goals from Emmanuel Eboue and Seydou Doumbia had left them staring at a defeat.
Podolski, though, had the last word on an emotional night for Joachim Low's men.
There were moving scenes before kick-off as Germany captain Michael Ballack, ruled out of the game through injury, placed Enke's number one shirt on the bench among the substitutes.
A video montage featuring footage from Enke's life was shown, accompanied by "You'll never walk alone", while both teams wore black armbands in memory of the goalkeeper, capped eight-times by Germany, who committed suicide last week after battling depression.
Ivory Coast paid their respects by wearing T-shirts which bore a portrait of Enke with the words 'in memoriam Robert Enke'.
Giorgio Chiellini's first-half header earned Italy a narrow 1-0 victory over Sweden in the Azzurri's last friendly match of the year in Cesena.
The Juventus defender headed the ball from a corner past a helpless Andreas Isaksson after 28 minutes and it proved to be the only goal of the contest.
As expected, Italy coach Marcello Lippi fielded an experimental side with no members of the triumphant 2006 World Cup side in his starting XI.
For Sweden, it was the first of newly-installed head coach Erik Hamren, who had to do without team's best-known player Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Barcelona.
Sweden enjoyed their share of possession in the first half but it was Italy who created the better chances.
A solid performance from Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar ensured their friendly meeting with Holland in Heerenveen ended in a lacklustre 0-0 draw.
Neither side were at their best in a match woefully short of attacking flair, but Holland may have edged the contest had Villar not kept out a handful of decent efforts from the hosts.
The last of those, from substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar, came in injury time while there were also two good stops from Rafael van der Vaart.
Denmark came from behind to earn a 3-1 friendly win over the USA in Copenhagen.
The visitors took a first-half lead at the Parken Stadion through Jeff Cunningham's 27th-minute goal and held onto their advantage until the interval.
But Johan Absalonsen levelled two minutes into the second period and two goals in three minutes from Soren Rieks (52) and Martin Bernburg (55) put them in control.
Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov scored twice but Bulgaria were made to sweat longer than the scoreline suggests for a 4-1 win away to Malta.
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.
It remained level until the final quarter-hour, when Berbatov struck either side of Blagoy Georgiev's goal to give the score an ultimately comfortable gloss.
Goran Pandev's goal earned FYR 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 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.
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.
Selected Match Reports
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