China Holds Brazil to a Tie
On a day of international friendly matches when upsets were the norm rather than the exception, it wasn’t the fall of England, France or even Germany that raised an eyebrow Wednesday but rather the fact that unheralded China was able to earn a 0-0 tie against five-time world champion Brazil.
The Chinese, ranked 64th in the world and playing their first match under Dutch Coach Arie Haan, used a stifling defense to thwart the Brazilians in front of 60,000 at the Olympic Stadium in Guangzhou, China.
“We can build on this,” said Haan, whose counterpart, Brazil Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, blamed fatigue for his players’ less-than-scintillating performance. “The team’s speed and energy were poor because they were traveling so much,” Parreira said.
Brazil was paid a reported $1.25 million for the match, which European clubs, unhappy at being forced to release their Brazilian players, said was arranged to replenish the Brazilian soccer federation’s coffers.
Czech Republic 2, France 0
A blunder by backup goalkeeper Ulrich Rame, filling in for injured Fabien Barthez, allowed Zdenek Grygera to score from long range early on, and Milan Baros added a second-half goal as France was upset by the Czech Republic at Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris.
Rame fumbled Grygera’s shot in the seventh minute and the French, ranked No. 2 in the world, never recovered, suffering their first loss since Jacques Santini took over as coach after the World Cup.
The reigning European champions were booed off the field by the 60,000 fans at the Stade de France as the Czechs extended their unbeaten run to 11 games.
“We were too slow and too shy,” Santini said.
Spain 3, Germany 1
Raul Gonzalez, better known simply as Raul, became Spain’s all-time scoring leader when he netted his 30th and 31st international goals to the delight of 20,000 fans at Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The Real Madrid striker, playing in his 59th match for his country, put Spain ahead by beating goalkeeper Oliver Kahn with a diagonal shot in the 31st minute to surpass the record of 29 goals he had shared with retired defender Fernando Hierro.
Germany tied it on a Fredi Bobic goal just before halftime, but a Raul penalty kick and a third goal by Guti sealed the Spanish victory.
Netherlands 1, Argentina 0
A goal three minutes before the final whistle by midfielder Giovanni Van Bronckhorst earned the Netherlands a victory in front of 39,000 in Amsterdam.
Both sides created plenty of scoring opportunities, with the Dutch coming close to scoring on efforts by Patrick Kluivert and Ruud Van Nistelrooy and the Argentines following suit via Marcello Gallardo and Javier Saviola.
The loss was the South American team’s first in five matches since Korea/Japan ’02.
Australia 3, England 1
The handwriting on the wall became clear to England Coach Sven Goran Eriksson after his team suffered a not-altogether-surprising but nonetheless humiliating loss to Australia. The Swede’s future as coach is likely to come under increased scrutiny.
England, 42 places above Australia at eighth in the world rankings, fielded its strongest team in the first half but fell behind, 2-0, on goals by Tony Popvic and Harry Kewell.
The crowd of 34,590 in London cheered when Eriksson replaced all 11 players for the second 45 minutes, a move that included the international debut of forward Wayne Rooney, who became England’s youngest player ever at 17 years 111 days.
Francis Jeffers cut Australia’s lead in half with a goal off a cross by another teenage debutant, 19-year-old Jermaine Jenas, but Brett Emerton scored Australia’s third to cap its deserved victory.
“The situation doesn’t concern me too much,” Eriksson said of being booed. “If you are England, you should not lose at football to Australia, so I understand that.”
Italy 1, Portugal 0
Luis Felipe Scolari, Brazil’s World Cup-winning coach, made his debut as Portugal’s coach in this game in Genoa, and came away not entirely dissatisfied despite the loss.
“We lost, but we shouldn’t be worried,” Scolari said of the 2004 European Championship hosts, ranked No. 11 in the world. “I have only been in place for 20 days and we need much more time to build a team.
“But on the basis of this performance tonight, I don’t think we need to change too much to get the team right.”
The game’s lone goal came from Bernardo Corradi, who scored off a rebound in the 66th minute after Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo had blocked Fabrizio Miccoli’s initial shot.
The victory for Coach Giovanni Trapattoni’s 13th-ranked side was only the Italians’ second in their last nine games.
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
Canada, suddenly finding its offense after a 4-0 loss to the United States in its last outing, defeated Libya, 4-2, in front of 52,000 in Tripoli.... Ireland gave new Coach Brian Kerr a victory on his debut, blanking Scotland, 2-0, in front of 33,337 in Glasgow.... Turkey, ranked seventh in the world, made heavy going of it in Izmir, Turkey, and was held to a 0-0 tie by Ukraine.... Wales extended its unbeaten streak to a record nine games by tying Bosnia, 2-2, in front of 21,456 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.... Israel’s first home international match in more than a year ended in a 2-0 victory over Armenia in Tel Aviv.... World Cup quarterfinalist Senegal was upset, 1-0, by Morocco in Paris, where a pitch invasion by fans of both teams delayed the start by two hours.... U.S. Soccer announced that the women’s national team will play South Korea in Salt Lake City on June 14 in the defending world champions’ first appearance in Utah.
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Times wire services contributed to this report
