© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday and Thursday night, 30 friendly international matches took place at the planet's stadiums, where there was no shortage of interesting results. France, preparing for the World Cup, suffered a real shock by losing to Slovakia at home, and Italy crushed Germany, while England and Spain snatched hard-fought victories at home.
France's national team, which hadn't lost a single match since the quarterfinals of the 2004 European Championship against Greece - coach Raymond Domenech could boast a 17-match unbeaten streak, but in the first matches of 2006, the French were forced to recognize Slovakia's superiority.
Despite Sylvain Wiltord canceling out Szilard Nemeth's unstoppable goal from 20 meters away from the crossbar with a penalty in the 75th minute scored by Patrick Vieira in extra time, the French were forced to suffer a sensational defeat due to a great penalty by Jozef Valachovic nearing the end of the match.
Germany's national team strategist, Jurgen Klinsmann, will also have a lot to think about before the upcoming World Cup - the summer tournament hosts were crushed by the Italian team in Florence. After goals by Alberto Gilardino, Luca Toni, and Daniele De Rossi in the first half, the Italians led 3-0, and another goal in the second half by Alessandro Del Piero, with only Roberto Huth scoring a consolation goal for the Germans.
England managed to avoid France's fate by snatching a late victory at home against Uruguay, who were trailing most of the match after a fantastic goal from Omar Pouso from 30 meters, but still managed to defeat their opponents in the final moments. After substitute Peter Crouch equalized the score with a header in the 75th minute, Joe Cole's goal in extra time secured the deserved victory for the hosts.
Croatia surprised by defeating Argentina in intense and dramatic matches in Switzerland. The Croats took the lead in the second minute with a goal from Ivan Klasnic, but just four minutes later, Argentina's Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi put them ahead with their goals. However, after the break, Darijo Srna managed to equalize, and the Croatian defender Dario Simic, who scored a late winning goal with his head, had the final say in the match.
The match between Spain and Ivory Coast was similar - the Africans playing away scored the opening goal, which was equalized by David Villa from Spain ten minutes later, and although Ivory Coast regained the lead early in the second half through Bonaventure Kalou, Jose Antonio Reyes' goal in the 73rd minute brought the score level again. A late header by defender Juanito Gutierrez in the 85th minute secured victory for Spain.
In contrast, defending World Cup champions Brazil managed to handle the extreme cold in Moscow and defeated the Russian national team. The only and winning goal for the Brazilians, without Ronaldinho on the pitch, was scored by Ronaldo, who is currently experiencing challenging times at Real Madrid.
The Turkey and Czech Republic clash was particularly dramatic. The visiting Czechs were leading confidently 2-0 until the 89th minute, but that's when Umit Karan appeared - he scored two goals in two minutes to help his country avoid defeat.
Similarly, Finland followed the example of Turkey, as they salvaged a draw against Belarus with two late goals at the end of the match before defeating them in a penalty shootout. In other tournament matches in Cyprus, the hosts celebrated victories, defeating Armenia, Romania took down Slovenia, and Greece won thanks to another goal from Giorgios Samaras.
Victories by one-goal margins were achieved at home by South Korea, Senegal, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, and Mexico, but overall it was the away teams that performed better - Bulgaria, Lithuania, Serbia and Montenegro, Georgia, Denmark, USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium all won away, with the match between Belgium and Luxembourg being interrupted due to fog.
All Wednesday match results:
South Korea 1 - 0 Angola
23' [1 - 0] Park Chu Young
Cyprus 2 - 0 Armenia
18' [1 - 0] Giannakis Okkas
61' [2 - 0] Chrysostomos Michael
Romania 2 - 0 Slovenia
21' [1 - 0] Lionel Mazilu
53' [2 - 0] Andrej Pecnik (own goal)
Macedonia 0 - 1 Bulgaria
38' [0 - 1] Martin Petrov
Russia 0 - 1 Brazil
15' [0 - 1] Ronaldo
Finland 2 - 2 Belarus (penalties 5-4)
35' [0 - 1] Sergey Kornilenko
54' [0 - 2] Oleg Shkabara
82' [1 - 2] Aki Riihilahti
90' [2 - 2] Mikael Forssell
Albania 1 - 2 Lithuania
38' [1 - 0] Adrian Aliaj (pen.)
39' [1 - 1] Mantas Save...
