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On Saturday, 11 more international friendly matches were played, in which the favorites - Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, and France, the participating teams of the World Cup, secured victories. Serbia and Montenegro, Paraguay, Spain, and Switzerland with the Ivory Coast played to draws, while Trinidad and Tobago suffered a defeat.
The hosts of the upcoming tournament, the Germans, simply had the opportunity to practice their goal-scoring skills as they faced Luxembourg, ranked 152nd in the FIFA national team rankings. Despite the absence of the injured German captain Michael Ballack in the match held in Freiburg, there were no surprises. Jurgen Klinsmann's team scored seven goals without a response - strikers Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, and Oliver Neuville each scored twice, while Torsten Frings added one penalty goal.
Portugal also faced a weak opponent, the Republic of Cape Verde, in Évora in 30-degree heat, and won 4-1. Pedro Pauleta scored a hat-trick for the winners, Armando Petit scored one goal, while Fernando Meira scored an own goal for the visitors.
A draw was played between Serbia and Montenegro, who failed to defeat Uruguay at home. The Serbians took the lead 1-0 when Dejan Stankovic directed the ball into the net after a corner kick, but Uruguayan defender Diego Godin scored a rare goal in the 82nd minute. The match also ended in a draw between the first-time meeting of the Danish and Paraguayan national teams, with Paraguay taking the lead through veteran Jose Cardozo, and the Danes managing to avoid defeat with a goal scored by Jon Dahl Tomasson.
The preparation match for Trinidad and Tobago ended unsuccessfully as they had to admit the superiority of the experimental Welsh team. After leading for over half an hour, Sterno John scored the first goal for the small Caribbean national team, and although Robert Earnshaw equalized later and scored again towards the end of the match to secure a victory for the visitors.
The local team in the Netherlands faced a serious challenge against Cameroon, who barely missed the World Cup "train." The "Oranje," coached by Marco van Basten, dominated the match and had many opportunities to score, but were often thwarted by the excellent Cameroonian goalkeeper. However, he had to pull the ball out of the net once - Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the winning goal for the Dutch in the middle of the first half after a pass from Andre Ooijer.
An interesting match also took place at the Stade de France in Paris, where France and Mexico met. This match was special in that it was the 100th match for "Les Bleus" defender Zinedine Zidane, and at the same time the last time he played in France, in the stadium where he scored a decisive goal in the opening match of the 1998 World Cup against Spain and scored two goals for the victorious French team in the final of the World Cup that same year.
Unimpressively without Thierry Henry, the French team scored the only goal through Florent Malouda, who managed to beat Mexico's goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez with a strong shot from the flank just before half-time. Patrick Vieira also hit the crossbar with a shot, while Franck Ribery, making his debut in the national team, also attracted attention without Zidane.
In other matches, Spain failed to capitalize on territorial advantage and chances against Russia, playing to a goalless draw. The match between Colombia and Romania also ended in a draw, and New Zealand defeated future opponent of Lithuania in the European Championship qualifiers, Georgia, with a score of 3-1.
Results of Saturday's international friendly matches:
Germany 7 - 0 Luxembourg 5' [1 - 0] Miroslav Klose 19' [2 - 0] Torsten Frings (Penalty) 36' [3 - 0] Lukas Podolski 59' [4 - 0] Miroslav Klose 65' [5 - 0] Lukas Podolski (Penalty) 90' [6 - 0] Oliver Neuville 90' [7 - 0] Oliver Neuville
Switzerland 1 - 1 Ivory Coast 32' [1 - 0] Tranquillo Barnetta 47' [1 - 1] Emerse Fae
New Zealand 3 - 1 Georgia 41' [1 - 0] Vaughan Coveny 43' [2 - 0] Chris Killen 44' [2 - 1] Shota Arveladze 51' [3 - 1] Vaughan Coveny
Trinidad and Tobago 1 - 2 Wales 32' [1 - 0] Stern John 38' [1 - 1] Robert Earnshaw 87' [1 - 2] Robert Earnshaw
Portugal 4 - 1 Cape Verde 2' [1 - 0] Pedro Pauleta 21' [1 - 1] Fernando Meira (Own goal) 38' [2 - 1] Pedro Pauleta 60' [3 - 1] Petit 83' [4 - 1] Pedro Pauleta
Denmark 1 - 1 Paraguay 20' [0 - 1] Jose Cardozo 51' [1 - 1] Jon Dahl Tomasson
Serbia and Montenegro 1 - 1 Uruguay 18' [1 - 0] Dejan Stankovic 82' [1 - 1] Diego Godin
Netherlands 1 - 0 Cameroon 23' [1 - 0] Ruud Van Nistelrooy 85' Alioum Saidou (Cameroon) sent off
Colombia 0 - 0 Romania
France 1 - 0 Mexico 45+1' [1 - 0] Florent Malouda
Spain 0 - 0 Russia
