France 2-1 Costa Rica: Valbuena makes his mark

DEBUTANT Mathieu Valbuena lent weight to his World Cup claims with a late winner as France continued their World Cup build-up by battling to victory against Costa Rica. The South American side took a shock lead through Carlos Hernandez and, though Franck Ribery quickly levelled, an inspired goalkeeping display from Keylor Navas looked set to [...]

Netherlands 2-1 Mexico: Van Persie at the double

A DOUBLE salvo from Robin van Persie was enough to see Netherlands step up their World Cup preparations with victory over Mexico at Badenova-Stadion in Freiburg. The Arsenal striker opened the scoring after 17 minutes and then doubled the hosts' lead just before the half-time interval before Javier Hernandez, who will play for Manchester United [...]

Japan 0-2 South Korea World Cup Warm-up

AN early goal from Park Ji-sung and a late penalty from Park Chu-young gave South Korea a 2-0 win over Japan in Saitama Stadium on Monday evening. (SEE VIDEO) In a game of few chances, the captain’s fifth minute strike was enough to win the game for the visitors but Park’s injury time spot kick added an extra sheen as Korea picked up their [...]

Australia 2-1 New Zealand World Cup Warm-up

SUBSTITUTE Brett Holman struck with the last kick of the game to give Australia an undeserved victory in their World Cup farewell friendly against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (SEE VIDEO) Holman has been criticised for his lack of goals in national team colours in the past, but did his chances of booking his place on the plane [...]

Capello ready to experiment against Mexico

ENGLAND coach Fabio Capello has decided against using players who were involved in the FA Cup final in Monday's World Cup warm-up game against Mexico at Wembley Stadium. It seems an odd decision from the manager, considering Chelsea's 1-0 victory over Portsmouth came nine days ago at the same stadium. However, if he is intending to use all of [...]