Spain, France and Germany win; Czechs hold England: World Cup warm-ups

LONDON, Aug 21: Spain won 3-0 in Denmark while England, the team that coach Fabio Capello said could be as good as the European champions, were held to a 2-2 home draw by Czech Republic in World Cup warm-ups on Wednesday.

Italy were grateful for an own goal by Ramazan Ozcan as they salvaged a 2-2 draw with Austria in the French city of Nice in their first match back under the command of 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi.

Germany beat Belgium 2-0 in Nuremberg, winger Sidney Govou struck twice in France’s 3-2 victory in Sweden and Netherlands were unable to avenge their Euro 2008 quarter-final defeat as they drew 1-1 with Russia in Moscow.

At Wembley, substitute Joe Cole saved England from defeat against the Czechs by equalising two minutes into stoppage time.

Capello, speaking to journalists last week, said that playing with confidence England could be up with Spain among the best teams in Europe.

England begin their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign with matches against Andorra and Croatia next month.Among the best performances in Wednesday’s warm-ups were the two goals from midfielder Xabi Alonso in Spain’s victory and Dimitar Berbatov’s double for Bulgaria in a 2-1 win in Bosnia.

Several South American teams were also in action as they prepared for World Cup qualifiers, with Uruguay coming from behind to beat Japan 3-1 in Sapporo.

Leaders Paraguay and second-placed Argentina both drew. The Paraguayans conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia in Nyon, Switzerland while Argentina were held 0-0 by Belarus in Minsk.

There was a shock in Africa as Nations Cup holders Egypt crashed to a 4-0 defeat by Sudan after two goals from Mudathir Tahir.

Lippi was by no means the only coach making a fresh start, with Czech Karel Brueckner now at the helm in Austria and Carlos Queiroz back with his home country Portugal, who crushed Faroe Islands 5-0 at Aveiro.

New Czech coach Petr Rada will be pleased with his debut at Wembley while former Bayern Munich boss Ottmar Hitzfeld celebrated his Switzerland start with a 4-1 win over Cyprus.

Vicente del Bosque had as good a start as he could have hoped for with Spain after taking over from triumphant Euro 2008 coach Luis Aragones.

Results:

Albania 2 Liechtenstein 0

Belarus 0 Argentina 0

Bosnia-Herzegovina 2 Bulgaria 1

Denmark 0 Spain 3

England 2 Czech Republic 2

Estonia 2 Malta 1

Finland 2 Israel 0

Germany 2 Belgium 0

Hungary 3 Montenegro 3

Iceland 1 Azerbaijan 1