England beat Italy, end 15-year drought

England pulled off their first victory over Italy in 15 years in a friendly on Wednesday, while visiting South American giants Argentina and Brazil notched up comfortable victories over Germany and Sweden. Santi Carloza and Cesc Fabregas scored goals in the opening half as world champion Spain posted a 2-1 victory over Puerto Rico on Wednesday. It marked the first match for Spain since winning the European Championship last month. A stunning Jermaine Defoe strike 10 minutes from time handed Roy Hodgson’s England a 2-1 win, their first over the Italians since a 2-0 friendly victory in 1997 although it may not make up for the pain of June’s Euro 2012 quarter-final defeat on penalties to the same opponents. England had to come from behind, with Daniele De Rossi heading in to give the Euro 2012 runners-up a 15th-minute lead before Phil Jagielka equalised 12 minutes later with another header. But just when it appeared as if the match was petering out to a draw, Defoe finished off a counter-attack led by fellow substitute James Milner before sending a 20-yard shot arrowing into Salvatore Sirigu’s top-left corner. In Frankfurt, Argentina, whose World Cup ambitions died in a four-goal thumping at German hands two years ago in South Africa, turned the tables with a 3-1 win, despite Lionel Messi mising a penalty. The hosts ended up with 10 men and were struggling once they lost inexperienced goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler after he upended the onrushing Jose Sosa. Germany’s 20-year-old rookie Marc-Andre ter Stegen of Borussia Moenchengladbach took his place between the sticks — then promptly saved a poor Messi penalty. Messi — who shattered Europe’s goalscoring records last season with 73 goals in total for Barcelona in 60 games to beat German Gerd Mueller’s mark of 67 set 1972-73 — would not be denied, however, and was at the heart of a fine win with the second goal in 52 minutes. Messi’s effort all but wrapped things up after a curious opening goal saw Sami Khedira knock the ball over his own line for the opener in first half injury time following Real Madrid team-mate Angel Di Maria’s corner. Di Maria set the seal on the victory when he rifled home a left-footer from 30 yards with 11 minutes remaining. Argentina’s continental neighbours Brazil secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Sweden at the soon-to-be demolished Rasunda Stadium, centrepiece of the 1958 World Cup finals which the Brazilians won after beating the Swedish hosts 5-2. With Pele and other members of that team looking on, second-half replacement Alexandre Pato scored a quick-fire brace in the 84th and 87th minutes, the latter a penalty, to secure victory. Leandro Damiao, golden boot at the Olympics, had duly opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with a powerful header to ensure Brazil’s dominance over a Swedish side. From:Gulftoday