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Friendlies round-up

Image: Aquilani: Fires home winner for Italy

Italy grabbed a 2-1 win over world and European champions Spain in Bari.

Italy beat Spain; Germany too good for Brazil

Italy grabbed a 2-1 win over world and European champions Spain in Bari. The Spanish had not lost in 2011, but they fell to the Azzurri at the San Nicola. Riccardo Montolivo opened the scoring after just 11 minutes, but Spain levelled through Xabi Alonso's penalty before the break. The winner came just six minutes from time as Liverpool's Alberto Aquilani scored. A brilliant match in Stuttgart saw Germany edge to a 3-2 win over Brazil. After a goalless first-half Bastian Schweinsteiger's penalty put the hosts ahead on the hour before Mario Gotze doubled their advantage not long after. A Robinho spot-kick reduced the arrears but Andre Schurrle restored Germany's two-goal advantage before wonderkid Neymar added a late second for Brazil with a strike in injury time. Ivory Coast defeated Israel 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller in Switzerland. The Africans race into a three-goal lead with Yaya Toure, Didier Konan Ya and Moussa Kone scoring. Israel bounced back with Itay Shechter and Maor Melikson scoring. Didier Drogba added a fourth for Ivory Coast which was enough to secure the win as Melikson scored a late penalty for Israel. Russia claimed a 1-0 win over Serbia in Moscow. The only goal of the game arrived just minutes into the second-half with Pavel Pogrebnyak firing home. Portugal romped to a 5-0 win over Luxembourg at the Estadio do Algarve. The goals came from Helder Postiga, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fabio Coentrao and Hugo Almeida (2).

Convincing

A brace from Mohammed Abdellaoue helped Norway to a convincing 3-0 win over Czech Republic. Abdellaoue's double sandwiched a goal from Fulham's John Arne Riise as the home side eased to victory in Oslo. Colin Kazim-Richards was the hero for Turkey as they claimed a 3-0 win over Estonia in Istanbul. Emre's penalty opened the scoring just eight minutes in before Kazim-Richards grabbed two before the interval. France were held to a 1-1 draw by Chile in Montpellier. Loic Remy had given the home side the lead after 20 minutes, but Nicolas Cordova grabbed a leveller for the South Americans with 14 minutes remaining. Sweden claimed a 1-0 win in Ukraine with Tobias Hysen grabbing the only goal in injury time. China grabbed a 1-0 victory over Jamaica in Guangzhou with Zhao Peng scoring just nine minutes in. Finland travelled to Latvia and claimed a 2-0 triumph courtesy of goals from Kasper Hamalainen and Timo Furuholm. Sergey Kislyak's goal gave Belarus a 1-0 win over Bulgaria in Minsk.
Thriller
Cyprus won a five-goal thriller against Moldova in Strovolos with Sinisa Dobrasinovic getting the winner in the final minute. Macedonia claimed a 1-0 win over Azerbaijan with Goran Pandev getting the winner on the hour. Hungary eased to a 4-0 success over Iceland with two goals in either half in Budapest. Vladimir Koman and Gergely Rudolf struck before the break and Balazs Dzsudzsak and Akos Elek rounded off the scoring. Manchester City's Stevan Savic scored twice for Montengero but that could not save them as they lost 3-2 at Albania. Switzerland were made to work hard in Vaduz against Liechtenstein as they came away with a 2-1 triumph over their tiny neighbours. San Marino, who England face in World Cup qualifying, lost 1-0 to Romania. Jakub Blaszczykowski scored the only goal for Poland as they beat Georgia 1-0 win Lubin. Slovakia were too good for Austria as they claimed a 2-1 win. Goals from Juraj Kucka and Robert Jez set up the success as the home side could only reply through Erwin Hoffer. Slovenia and Belgium played out a goalless draw, as did Bosnia and Greece.

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