The Dutch stumble against Italy
Nathan Ake headed in a late equaliser as the Netherlands held 10-man Italy 1-1 in an international friendly in Turin between two heavyweights who failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Simone Zaza had put Italy ahead after 67 minutes in Juventus’ Allianz Stadium but the hosts were hit two minutes later when defender Domenico Criscito was sent off for a tackle on Ryan Babel.
Bournemouth centre-back Ake got the equaliser past the hosts two minutes from time, and almost added a second in injury time.
Both sides are rebuilding after failing to reach the World Cup finals in Russia.
New Italy coach Roberto Mancini’s first three games in charge have resulted in a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia, 3-1 defeat by France, and 1-1 draw against the Dutch.
The Dutch are also forging a new era under Ronaldo Koeman after failing to qualify for both Euro 2016 and the World Cup.
Four-time world champions Italy proved wasteful in the first half despite dominating play with chances from Andrea Belotti, Simone Verdi and Criscito.
Torino striker Belotti — starting in place of Mario Balotelli — had the ball in the net within three minutes but the goal was ruled offside.
Lorenzo Insigne — wearing the captain’s armband on his 27th birthday — then set up Verdi who fired over, with Criscito’s header cleared off the line by Ruud Vormer.
Koeman’s side got into their stride more after the break but Italy nevertheless opened the scoring when second half substitute Zaza picked up a Federico Chiesa centre.
But minutes later Criscito was sent off for a mistimed tackle, giving three-time World Cup runners-up the Netherlands a numerical advantage.
“I’m happy with the goal because I had sad memories of the national team, I felt a little emotional,” said Zaza, who has been recalled by Mancini having not played since missing a penalty kick in Euro 2016 against Germany.
The Dutch — World Cup runners-up in 2014 — follow last week’s 1-1 draw against Slovakia, having beaten Portugal 3-0 last Match.
For Italy it was another 1-1 draw in Turin after recent games against England, Spain and Macedonia.
Serbia beaten
In Graz, Austria, Serbia lost to Chile in the first of their 2018 World Cup warm-up matches, conceding a late goal to Guillermo Maripan.
The centre-back headed in Sergej Milinkovic-Savic on the bench, instead starting Liverpool’s Marko Grujic.
Serbia continue their tournament preparation with a friendly against Bolivia on Saturday before their opening Group E match against Costa against the Slovaks, who missed qualifying for the World Cup. Morocco set a blistering tempo in the opening minutes, keeping the European side bottled-up in their own end and threatening twice in the first quarter-hour: Hakim Ziyech hit the post and Mbark Boussoufa forced a difficult save from Slovak goalkeeper Michal Sulla.
Nordin Amrabat, Mehdi Benatia, and Younes Belhanda also had chances for Morocco in the first half.
Morocco will play Estonia later this week in Tallinn in Estonia before heading to Russia, where their World Cup campaign begins June 15 with a match against Iran.
The Moroccans’ other opponents in the group stage will be Spain and Portugal in Group B.