Van Persie, Valbuena dazzle in warm-ups
Source: Agencies |
May 28, 2010, Friday
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NEW blood and a change of formation paid dividends for France as debutant Mathieu Valbuena scored the winner in a 2-1 World Cup warm-up win over Costa Rica on Wednesday.
With 16 days until the start of the tournament in South Africa, the Netherlands also secured a morale-boosting win as Robin van Persie scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Mexico.
France, playing in a 4-3-3 formation instead of the usual 4-2-3-1 under coach Raymond Domenech, produced some neat football but looked shaky at the back.
Midfielder Carlos Hernandez put Costa Rica ahead early but an own goal restored parity and Valbuena struck seven minutes from time.
The Dutch, without a number of regular starters including Arjen Robben, Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder, followed England's example by overcoming Mexico.
Van Persie proved his worth as central striker with two fine volleys to give Mexico coach Javier Aguirre some thinking to do after another inconsistent performance, following its 1-3 defeat by England at Wembley. Javier Hernandez headed a consolation for the Mexicans 16 minutes from time.
"Van Persie was excellent tonight with two beautiful goals, but we missed the power in the second half and allowed Mexico to play much better," Netherlands Bert van Marwijk said.
Australia became the first team to arrive for the World Cup when it landed in Johannesburg.
"For everybody, this is a new experience to train and to play in altitude," coach Pim Verbeek said at Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport.
"So we have to find out how it works and what we can do the upcoming days, we still have work to do, but that's why we have 15, 16 days to prepare ourselves."
If the World Cup suddenly seemed a lot closer for the Australians, Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas was still being forced to duck questions about his club future.
Fabregas, a transfer target for Barcelona, had hoped to get his future sorted out well before the start of the tournament but the Arsenal man had to leave his fate in the hands of club manager Arsene Wenger.
"He told me to concentrate on my football and to concentrate on the World Cup," Fabregas told reporters at Spain's training camp in Madrid.
"He told me to leave it in his hands and he will deal with whatever happens with my future. That's what I'm doing. Just concentrating on football."
United States coach Bob Bradley named his party on Wednesday, keeping faith with central defender Oguchi Onyewu. Experienced striker Brian Ching was the surprise omission from the US squad.
Germany coach Joachim Loew has named his final squad. It has already been reduced to 22 by an injury to midfielder Christian Traesch and the coach will be relieved it was not reduced still further.
With 16 days until the start of the tournament in South Africa, the Netherlands also secured a morale-boosting win as Robin van Persie scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Mexico.
France, playing in a 4-3-3 formation instead of the usual 4-2-3-1 under coach Raymond Domenech, produced some neat football but looked shaky at the back.
Midfielder Carlos Hernandez put Costa Rica ahead early but an own goal restored parity and Valbuena struck seven minutes from time.
The Dutch, without a number of regular starters including Arjen Robben, Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder, followed England's example by overcoming Mexico.
Van Persie proved his worth as central striker with two fine volleys to give Mexico coach Javier Aguirre some thinking to do after another inconsistent performance, following its 1-3 defeat by England at Wembley. Javier Hernandez headed a consolation for the Mexicans 16 minutes from time.
"Van Persie was excellent tonight with two beautiful goals, but we missed the power in the second half and allowed Mexico to play much better," Netherlands Bert van Marwijk said.
Australia became the first team to arrive for the World Cup when it landed in Johannesburg.
"For everybody, this is a new experience to train and to play in altitude," coach Pim Verbeek said at Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport.
"So we have to find out how it works and what we can do the upcoming days, we still have work to do, but that's why we have 15, 16 days to prepare ourselves."
If the World Cup suddenly seemed a lot closer for the Australians, Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas was still being forced to duck questions about his club future.
Fabregas, a transfer target for Barcelona, had hoped to get his future sorted out well before the start of the tournament but the Arsenal man had to leave his fate in the hands of club manager Arsene Wenger.
"He told me to concentrate on my football and to concentrate on the World Cup," Fabregas told reporters at Spain's training camp in Madrid.
"He told me to leave it in his hands and he will deal with whatever happens with my future. That's what I'm doing. Just concentrating on football."
United States coach Bob Bradley named his party on Wednesday, keeping faith with central defender Oguchi Onyewu. Experienced striker Brian Ching was the surprise omission from the US squad.
Germany coach Joachim Loew has named his final squad. It has already been reduced to 22 by an injury to midfielder Christian Traesch and the coach will be relieved it was not reduced still further.
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