The Hindu : Sport / Football : Germany rallies to down England; Brazil blanks Algeria

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 24, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Football

Germany rallies to down England; Brazil blanks Algeria

Italy humbled by Hungary; France scores win

— PHOTO: AP

EASY KILL: Kevin Kuranyi made the most of an error by England goalkeeper Paul Robinson to net Germany’s equaliser.

LONDON: Germany got revenge on England and piled the pressure on its manager Steve McClaren with a 2-1 friendly win at Wembley here on Wednesday.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard put England ahead in the ninth minute but a bad mistake by England goalkeeper Paul Robinson gifted Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi an equaliser in the 26th minute.

Schalke left-back Christian Pander, making his Germany debut, scored the winner in the 40th minute, blasting past Robinson from distance after a skilful build-up.

Ronaldinho, starting as a substitute after declining to take part in last month’s Copa America, came off the bench to score the second goal in Brazil’s 2-0 friendly win over Algeria at Montpellier.

Brazil went ahead in the 62nd minute as Ronaldinho’s inswinging corner was met by Maicon, who headed in from close range at the near post.

Ronaldinho added the second with nine minutes left, calmly slotting home the rebound from a narrow angle after Diego’s shot was blocked by Gouaoui.

Upset win

World champion Italy produced a lacklustre performance and slumped to an embarrassing 3-1 defeat by Hungary in a friendly at Rome.

In another friendly, Thierry Henry marked his return to the international scene after a six month hiatus with the decisive goal in France’s 1-0 win over Slovakia.

The results: At Oslo: Norway 2 (Carew 11-pen, 58) bt Argentina 1 (Rodriguez 87). At Sofia: Bulgaria 0 lost to Wales 1 (Eastwood 45). At Kiev: Ukraine 2 (Gladky 30, Rotan 65) bt Uzbekistan 1 (Geinri kh 90). At Moscow: Russia 2 (Sychev 21, Pavlyuchenko 34) drew with Poland 2 (Krzynowek 73, Blaszczykowski 77). At Paris: Ivory Coast 0 drew with Egypt 0. At Montpellier (France): Brazil 2 (Maicon 6 2, Ronaldinho 81) bt Algeria 0. At Gothenburg: Sweden 1 (Kaellstrom 56) bt USA 0. At Sarajevo: Croatia 5 (Da Silva 18, Srna 35, 72, N. Kovac 71, 80) bt Bosnia 3 (Muslimovic 40, 69, 76). At Minsk: B elarus 2 (Vasilyuk 3, Romashchenko 90-pen) bt Israel 1 (Gershon 29-pen). At Salonica (Greece): Greece 2 (Gekas 18, Katsouranis 43) lost to Spain 3 (Marchena 38, Silva 66, 90+3). At Rome: Italy 1 (Di Natale 49) lost t o Hungary 3 (Juhasz 62, Gera 66-pen, Feczesin 76). At Trnava (Slovakia): Slovakia 0 lost to France 1 (Henry 39). At London: England 1 (Lampard 9) lost to Germany 2 (Kuranyi 26, Pander 40). At Vienna: Austria 1 (Harnik 78) drew with Czech Republic 1 (Koller 33). At Aberdeen: Scotland 1 (Boyd 71) bt South Africa 0. At Geneva: Switzerland 2 (Barnetta 8-pen, 51) bt Netherlands 1 (Kuyt 52). — Agencies