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The preparation for the World Championships continues in stadiums around the world. On Thursday and Friday, eight friendly matches were played, with four national teams participating in the World Cup winning their matches. After a long break, Australia, who qualified for the final tournament, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of a record-breaking crowd of 95 thousand spectators against the European champion Greece and won by a narrow margin. Josip Skoko scored the only goal in the 16th minute of the match. Sweden, on the other hand, had a poor performance in Gothenburg without several key players and failed to score against Finland, ending the match in a goalless draw. England's second team also faced defeat, as they had to admit Belarus' superiority. The English team took the lead after Jermaine Jenas' goal in the 35th minute, but Vitali Kutuzov equalized the score after the break due to a injury to goalkeeper Robert Green. Despite Sergej Omelyanchuk being sent off later, Belarus managed to secure victory after a goal by Sergej Kornilenko in the 80th minute. South Korea, warming up for the World Cup, defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in Seoul after goals by Seol Ki-Hyeon and Cho Jae-Jin. Czech Republic, with goals from Milan Baros and Marek Jankulovski, defeated Saudi Arabia, while Turkey, leading against Ghana thanks to Nihat Kahveci, failed to maintain the advantage and had to settle for a draw after Matthew Amoah equalized in the second half. Two more matches took place on Friday night, with the United States defeating Venezuela 2-0 and recovering from the defeat against Morocco on Tuesday. Brian Ching and Clinton Dempsey scored for the American team. In the other match, Romania, not participating in the championships, won against Northern Ireland with the same score. On Saturday, there will be 11 more friendly matches, involving the same number of championship participants. Switzerland will face Ivory Coast and France will play against Mexico, while Germany and Portugal will play against smaller countries. Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, Serbia and Montenegro, Netherlands, and Spain opted for more serious opponents who did not qualify for the tournament. Friendly match results: Australia 1 - 0 Greece Sweden 0 - 0 Finland England B 1 - 2 Belarus South Korea 2 - 0 Bosnia and Herzegovina Saudi Arabia 0 - 2 Czech Republic Turkey 1 - 1 Ghana USA 2 - 0 Venezuela Romania 2 - 0 Northern Ireland Saturday's friendly matches: 18:00 Germany - Luxembourg 18:30 Switzerland - Ivory Coast 19:00 New Zealand - Georgia 19:15 Trinidad and Tobago - Wales 20:00 Portugal - Green Kyrgyz Republic 21:00 Denmark - Paraguay 21:15 Serbia and Montenegro - Uruguay 21:30 Colombia - Romania 21:30 Netherlands - Cameroon 22:00 France - Mexico 23:00 Spain - Russia
