INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES Samba boys brush aside Russia
Argentina down Italy, Ronaldo’s last-gasp brace helps Portugal edge Egypt
Moscow, March 24: Fivetime world champions Brazil showed no signs of missing Neymar as they fine-tuned preparations for this year’s World Cup with a confident 3-0 victory over tournament hosts Russia on Friday.
Inter Milan full-back Miranda scored the opener while Barcelona midfield pair Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho scored one apiece at Moscow’s renovated Luzhniki stadium where the World Cup final will be played.
“I’m very happy with my team’s performance,” Brazilian manager Tite said.
“My players put into practice everything that we planned for this match.
“They’ve learned well all the lessons that we’ve been working on in training and they converted the chances that they created into goals.”
Brazil, who were without injured superstar Neymar, started brightly and in the fifth minute Dani Alves lobbed the ball into the area to Gabriel Jesus but the Manchester City striker shot straight at Russia’s goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
In Manchester, Ever Banega ensured Argentina weren’t derailed by Lionel Messi’s absence as the World Cup contenders clinched a 2-0 win over Italy at the Etihad Stadium.
Messi reportedly suffered an groin strain in training on Thursday, so the Barcelona forward was an unused substitute as Argentina kicked off their preparations for the World Cup in June.
Ahead of a busy end to the domestic season and then the World Cup, fivetime Ballon d’Or winner Messi wasn’t going to risk aggravating his injury.
Without their talismanic star, Jorge Sampaoli’s side showed they have strength in depth with a solid display capped by late goals from Banega and Manuel Lanzini.
Having edged through to the World Cup thanks to Messi’s treble in a 3-1 win over Ecuador in October, Argentina are focused on peaking in Russia, where they will play Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria in the group stage.
GERMANY DRAW WITH SPAIN
In Düsseldorf, a superb Thomas Mueller equaliser saw world champions Germany fight back against Spain as the European powerhouses drew 1-1 in high-profile friendly.
After Rodrigo Moreno put Spain ahead after just six minutes, Germany went into the break level as Mueller hit his 38th goal for the national team on his 90th international appearance.
The draw in front of a sold-out 50,653 crowd preserves both sides’ respective unbeaten runs dating back to Euro 2016.
Spain, who host Argentina on Tuesday in Madrid, are now 17 games unbeaten while Germany’s run is 22 without defeat as they prepare to play Brazil in Berlin, also on Tuesday.
In Zurich, Cristiano Ronaldo hit two goals in stoppage time as European champions Portugal defeated Egypt 21, winning his personal duel with Mohamed Salah who had put the seventime African champions ahead.
Ronaldo, appearing in his 900th career match, made his mark to devastating effect as time ran out.
First, he pulled his team level with a header from a Ricardo Quaresma cross, before adding the winner in almost identical circumstances in the fourth minute of injury time.