LONDON: The Netherlands once again proved too good for an under-par Spain, England held Italy to a draw while a second-string Portugal side were beaten at home by African minnows Cape Verde in Tuesday’s international friendlies.

Spain were unable to avenge a humiliating 5-1 World Cup defeat to the Netherlands as goals from Stefan de Vrij and Davy Klaasen handed the Dutch a 2-0 win, but England, beaten by Italy at the World Cup, salvaged some pride as Andros Townsend’s late equaliser secured a 1-1 draw.

A second-half sending off for Andre Pinto capped a miserable evening for a weakened Portugal side, missing many stars including the biggest one of all Cristiano Ronaldo, as Cape Verde upset them 2-0.

On a packed final day of the international window, Argentina beat Ecuador 2-1 to notch a second straight Copa America warm-up victory while in other friendlies ahead of the June 11-July 4 tournament, Mexico beat Paraguay 1-0 and Venezuela overcame Peru by the same score.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one goal and made another in a slick first-half performance as Sweden beat Iran 3-1 while the United States held on for 1-1 draw with Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Estonia and Iceland drew 1-1, Russia were goalless at home to Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein defeated San Marino 1-0, Ukraine were held 1-1 by Latvia, Turkey edged Luxembourg 2-1, Austria drew 1-1 with Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Slovakia beat Czech Republic 1-0.

Ghana and Mali drew 1-1 at Stade Sebastien Charlety in southern Paris, enabling both countries to avoid suffering two straight losses during the international window while Iraq beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 with Yaser Kasim scoring the winner on the hour.

Netherlands become the first team to inflict two defeats on Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, overrunning a second-string La Roja in the opening 20 minutes at the Amsterdam Arena.

Centre-back De Vrij rose highest to head home Wesley Sneijder’s in-swinging cross in the 13th minute before Klaasen was given an alarming amount of space inside the box to fire home on the rebound after David de Gea had saved his initial effort three minutes later.

Victory earned embattled coach Guus Hiddink some breathing space after a poor start to his second term in charge of the Dutch national team.

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Ola Toivonen (L) heads to score next to Iran’s Pejman Montazeri and Jalal Hosseini (R) during their international friendly.—Reuters

In seven matches ahead of Tuesday’s friendly, his team had beaten only Kazakhstan and Latvia in European qualifiers and lost to Italy, the Czech Republic, Iceland and Mexico in qualifiers and friendlies.

“This result will boost the confidence of the team,” said the 68-year-old. “Is it a relief to me personally? No because I didn’t have the impression I had a weight bearing down on me. I have been criticised but journalists have a habit of being scathing.”

England substitute Townsend fired home a superb equaliser 11 minutes from time to cancel out Graziano Pelle’s first-half opener in a fiercely contested match at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.

Italy had taken the lead on the half-hour through Pelle’s deft header after defender Giorgio Chiellini waltzed around Phil Jones and provided a precise cross from the left but Townsend rifled in an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from 20 metres.

“It didn’t seem like a friendly,” Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci told Rai TV. “It was a high-paced match. We let the win slide through our fingers but Townsend scored a fantastic goal.”

Portugal fielded none of the players that beat Serbia in Euro 2016 qualifying on Sunday and were undone by two first-half goals scored within six minutes of each other at the Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota in Estoril.

An Odair Fortes cross found the corner of the net on 38 minutes and Gege tapped the ball over the goal-line at the far post to double the lead to seal a win over a side that had four players making their debuts.

Argentina, without injured captain Lionel Messi for a second straight match, won at a freezing MetLife stadium in New Jersey with Sergio Aguero and Javier Pastore scoring in each half.

Having beaten El Salvador 2-0 in Washington on Saturday, Argentina opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Aguero nodded a header on a corner from Angel Di Maria from the left before Miller Bolanos equalised for Ecuador in the 24th minute.

But Paris St Germain midfielder Pastore scored the winner in the 58th minute when an Ecuador clearance was blocked and he beat the offside trap to tap the ball under goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.

Mexico, who beat Ecuador on Friday, also had their second consecutive win by beating Paraguay with a goal from Eduardo Herrera in the third minute at the Arrowhead in Kansas City.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2015

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