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August 13, 2010

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France loses, Spain held in Mexico

NEW-LOOK France lost 1-2 to Norway in a friendly in Oslo on Wednesday.

David Silva spared the blushes of world champion Spain with a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw in Mexico in a friendly almost no one in La Liga wanted just before the season, a common theme across the night with players keen not to pick up injuries.

South Africa runner-up the Netherlands was held 1-1 in its Euro 2012 qualifying warm-up in Ukraine but most of its World Cup squad was rested while third-placed Germany also put out a second-string side in a 2-2 draw in Denmark.

Exactly a month after the staging the World Cup final, South Africa beat Ghana 1-0 at Soccer City to secure a winning start for new coach Pitso Mosimane.

Argentina is still without a permanent coach after Diego Maradona's dramatic departure but it still managed to win 1-0 in Ireland, whose own boss Giovanni Trapattoni missed the game because of surgery.

Hungary took the lead at Wembley against England when Phil Jagielka's deflection was wrongly adjudged to have crossed the line, in contrast to Frank Lampard's effort in the 1-4 World Cup defeat to Germany which was ruled out despite being a goal.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said earlier in the day that the possible use of goalline technology would be on the agenda at the International Football Association Board meeting in October and the Hungary goal only adds more weight to calls for change.

England captain Steven Gerrard scored a brace to overturn the 62nd minute "opener."

New France coach Laurent Blanc has been busy with rebuilding job, picking a totally different squad for his first game in charge in Oslo following the debacle which engulfed Les Bleus during the World Cup. Erik Huseklepp's two second-half goals cancelled out Hatem Ben Arfa's 47th minute opener and left Blanc with lots of thinking to do before its first Euro 2012 Group D qualifier at home to Belarus on September 3.

Estonia kicked off its Euro qualifying campaign by scoring twice in added time for a 2-1 home win over the Faroe Islands.



 

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