England Flatter To Deceive, Portugal Stumble And Argentina Bag Five

Monday night saw us stroll past our first milestone in the build-up to the World Cup proper; that’s right, England had their first preparatory friendly. So now (in England at least) it’ll be time for the media and all that surrounds it to ramp up the hyperbole and build a nation up only to get knocked out by penalties against Mexico in the quarter finals. There was even enough time for Adrian Chiles to dust off his tie collection and take part in his very own pre-tournament friendly…

We might as well start with Capello’s men, who rounded out a 3-1 victory over Mexico with a perfunctory performance lacking any real cohesion. A win, however obvious to say it, is a win and will leave the England side in good spirits as they prepare for their next (and final) friendly against Japan on Sunday. Capello decided to rest his Chelsea contingent and handed at least half a game’s action to the likes of Leighton Baines, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Michael Carrick who are all thought to still be fighting for a place in the final 23. Joe Hart, James Milner and Peter Crouch (assumed certainties as back-up, at least) also got a chance to climb the pecking order. Carrick and Baines probably had the most unsettling performances and will be waiting anxiously to see how their counterparts cope vs Japan.

Mexico themselves unsurprisingly rotated a few faces as they lined up in their 5th(*) warm-up friendly in just over two weeks – players like Andres Guardado and Blanco had berths on the bench but familar faces such as Guille Franco, Rafael Marquez, Carlos Vela and Spurs’ lost boy Giovanni Dos Santos all got starts last night.

The goals came from a King header when Crouch headed a corner back into the box, then a dubiously offside Crouch header on a rebound also counted before Franco calmly pulled one back on the brink of half-time. Glen Johnson rounded out the scoring just after the break.

(*)Mexico coach Javier Aguirre has espoused a tactic of blooding his relatively young Mexico squad with an abundance of friendlies this month – 8 will have been played in total by the time the tournament starts – to fast-track their international experience and forge them into a team unit, something which was showing until they began to tire later in the game.

Also on Monday night Portugal got their preparations off to the worst of starts, being held to a 0-0 draw by the Cape Verde Islands. Our friend Wikipedia tells me that Cape Verde- a Portuguese colony on a collection of islands off the coast of Africa- is 117th in the world in the Fifa rankings. Carlos Quieroz’s men will have little to no excuse as they sent a full strength side (including the likes of Ronaldo, Nani, Liedson and Carvalho) out to play. Midfielder Tiago was also forced off the pitch after 75 minutes with an injury scare – all in all, not a perfect start to Portugese preparations.

Diego Maradona’s Argentina side had an altogether easier affair as their last game on home soil ended in a 5-0 romping of the Canadian national side. Liverpool midfielder Maxi Rodriguez bagged himself a brace whilst team-mates Angel Di Maria, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero all got in on the action with a goal apiece; all this without a Lionel Messi in sight, either. Despite the opposition, the result means Argentina will depart their shores in undoubted high spirits.

Across the Pacific Ocean, Australia and New Zealand ramped up their both of their World Cup preparations with a derby game. Chris Killen of Middlesbrough opened the scoring for the All Whites early in the first half before Dario Vidosic equalized on the hour mark. An injury time goal from substitute Bret Holman was enough to complete Australia’s recovery as they ended the game 2-1 victors, against the run of play as reports seem to suggest. Perhaps/hopefully both teams will be able to take some confidence from this tie.

We round out last night’s friendlies with a match-up in the Far-East. Both Japan and South Korea were looking to build some momentum as they head into the World Cup and it was the Taegeuk Warriors (that’s South Korea) who won 2-0 to emerge victorious – goals from Manchester United midfielder “three lung” Park Ji Sung and a last minute penalty from Chu-Young Park did the damage.

That was Monday’s games, look for more reports as the warm-ups to the World Cup – only 17 days away – continue.