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On June 9th, the World Cup will kick off in Germany. The teams participating in the tournament are currently actively preparing for the start of the championship and playing friendly matches. On Sunday, six friendly matches took place, in which as many World Cup participants tested their strength.
The Ukrainian national team, playing against Costa Rica, who will also be playing in the World Cup, proved that they can compete even without their leader Andriy Shevchenko. In the first 40 minutes of the match, after goals from Serhiy Nazarenko, Andriy Vorobei, and Maxim Kalinichenko, the Ukrainian national team surged ahead with a score of 3-0. After the break, Oleksiy Belik scored another goal for Ukraine, completing their domination over Costa Rica.
In another Sunday match, two World Cup participants, Croatia and Iran, faced each other. Croatia, who had not lost a single game to reach the World Cup and were considered favorites in this match, had to equalize the result twice after goals from Ali Karimi and Arash Borhani. It is worth mentioning that Marko Babic scored the equalizer in injury time from a penalty after Iran's goalkeeper made a mistake against Ivica Olic.
With just over a week left until the start of the championship, the Ecuadorian national team continues to struggle unsuccessfully. The Ecuadorians have only won one of their last 8 matches and on Sunday had to acknowledge Macedonia's superiority with a 1-2 result. Additionally, the team's forward Carlos Tenorio, who scored the only goal of the match, suffered an injury during the match, and the seriousness of his injury is still unknown.
Finally, on Sunday, the U.S. soccer players concluded their match by defeating the Latvian national team. The only goal of the match was scored in the last minute of the first half by U.S. player Brian McBride.
In addition to these matches, on Sunday, teams that did not qualify for the World Cup also played. The Mali national team defeated Morocco with a minimal score of 1-0, while the matches between Estonia and Turkey ended in a 1-1 draw.
Results of Sunday's international friendly matches:
Ukraine 4 - 0 Costa Rica 27` [1 - 0] Serhiy Nazarenko 33` [2 - 0] Andriy Vorobei 38` [3 - 0] Maxim Kalinichenko 56` [4 - 0] Olexiy Belik
Croatia 2 - 2 Iran 21` [0 - 1] Ali Karimi 31` [1 - 1] Dado Prso 82` [1 - 2] Arash Borhani 90` [2 - 2] Mark Babic (from 11m).
Ecuador 1 - 2 Macedonia 25` [1 - 0] Carlos Tenorio 28` [1 - 1] Goran Maznov 73` [1 - 2] Igor Mitreski (from 11m).
USA 1 - 0 Latvia 45` [1 - 0] Bryan McBride
Mali 1 - 0 Morocco 65` [1 - 0] Frederic Kanoute
Estonia 1 - 1 Turkey 53` [0 - 1] Gokhan Unal 87` [1 - 1] Tarmo Neemelo
