BEVERLY HILLS, October 07, (THEWILL) – There was a harvest of goals across the various friendly matches played on Wednesday in very exciting fixtures. Though some games were low-scoring and there was the goalless tie between Portugal and Spain, when there were goals scored, there was an abundance.
THEWILL presents a roundup below.
France 7 – 1 Ukraine
Olivier Giroud became France’s second highest all-time top scorer on Wednesday in a 7-1 win over Ukraine, scoring twice to leapfrog Michel Platini’s total of 42 goals, and is now gunning for Thierry Henry’s all-time record of 51.
Giroud celebrating his 100th cap in style in front of visitors’ coach Andriy Shevchenko, one of his idols.
“I feel a lot of pride, it’s a great honour for me and I’m happy it happened for my 100th cap,” Giroud told French TV channel TF1. “I’m happy I did it on front of Shevchenko, he was one of my favourite players, if not my favourite player when I was a teenager,” the Chelsea forward said of the former Milan and Ukraine striker, winner of the Ballon d’Or in 2004.
Eduardo Camavinga opened the scoring for France with a brilliant bicycle kick, becoming France’s second youngest player ever to score for Les Bleus (17 years and 11 months). An own goal from Vitaliy Mykolenko and goals for Corentin Tolisso, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann completed the rout.
Germany 3 – 3 Turkey
Germany midfielder Florian Neuhaus scored on his national team debut but Turkey came back three times to earn a 3-3 draw.
Kenan Karaman slotted in a stoppage-time equaliser after Luca Waldschmidt fired in an 81st-minute volley that had put Germany 3-2 ahead.
Turkey twice before had levelled, with both teams missing several regular players.
“We invited Turkey to score goals and again failed to hold on to victory,” Germany captain Julian Draxler said. “We have to be more dominant.”
Portugal 0 – 0 Spain
Spain and Portugal played out an entertaining 0-0 friendly draw on Wednesday in a warm-up match for the next round of Nations League games.
Luis Enrique’s men controlled the first half in Lisbon but had the crossbar to thank for keeping Cristiano Ronaldo and Renato Sanches at bay in the second half.
Each side experimented with their line-ups as a handful of players won their first senior caps, including Wolves winger Adama Traore, who nearly set up Dani Olmo for a winner.
Rui Patricio made three saves in the opening 17 minutes, his best a second-minute block from Gerard Moreno after he spun into space from Olmo’s pass.
Such was Spain’s control in the first 40 minutes that Ronaldo had only one touch of the ball in their penalty area, as Portugal failed to muster a shot on target.
They did let their guards down just before the break, though, Raphael Guerreiro blasting a half-volley over the bar and Ronaldo sending a tricky header wide from Joao Moutinho’s free-kick.
Italy 6 – 0 Moldova
Francesco Caputo scored on his Italy debut as Roberto Mancini’s side extended their unbeaten run to 17 matches, recording a resounding 6-0 win over Moldova at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Sassuolo forward Caputo was named in an experimental line-up – one devoid of any Napoli or Juventus players due to coronavirus restrictions – and made his mark in a dominant first half for the hosts in Florence.
Italy registered five goals in the opening 45 minutes for the third time in their history, Stephan El Shaarawy netting twice – either side of Veaceslav Posmac’s own goal – after Bryan Cristante had opened the scoring.
Domenico Berardi scored the only goal of a quieter second half as Italy hit their stride ahead of important Nations League games against Poland and the Netherlands.
Netherlands 0 – 1 Mexico
Mexico handed new Holland coach Frank de Boer a defeat in his first game in charge as they enjoyed a deserved 1-0 win over their hosts.
Raúl Jiménez made up for several missed first-half chances by tucking away a penalty on the hour mark after Nathan Aké had pulled him back in the area.
Other results: Cyprus 1 – Czech Republic 2; Denmark 4 – Faroe Islands 0; Estonia 1 – Lithuania 3; Malta 2 – Gibratar 0; Austria 2 – Greece 1; Andorra 1 – Cape Verde 2; Poland 5 – Finland 1; Zambia 1 – Malawi 0; Montenegro 1 – Latvia 1; Luxembourg 1 – Liechtenstein 2; Switzerland 1 – Croatia 2; Slovenia 4 – San Marino 0.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
