NEW YORK: Multi-champions Brazil, Argentina and Germany all won their preparatory games for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Saturday, although by small margins, with former champion England and hopeful Portugal also securing victories.

The busy day of friendlies saw some of the biggest stars on display, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Vinicius Jr and Mohamed Salah playing, but three-time champion Argentina opted to rest Lionel Messi against Honduras in Texas in a game where forward Lautaro Martinez shone with a goal and one assist for a 2-0 win. Simeone scored the second for Argentina.

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said that despite playing some of his younger squad members, his team showed they have a solid identity as the defence of their crown approaches.

“Maybe it could have been done better, but as for the team’s hallmark, its identity, I think it remains intact,” Scaloni said. “That’s the most important thing. That’s what we’re looking for, in the end, not to break that identity.”

Five-times champion Brazil beat Egypt 2-1 in Cleveland with Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes scoring early from inside the box and Olympique Lyonnais forward Endrick adding in the second half after an assist from Barcelona’s Raphinha.

Zico scored for Egypt, while Salah played the first half and seemed to be in good form.

There was some drama with Brazil and AS Roma right back Wesley leaving the field in tears after what appeared to be a serious muscle injury in the left leg, which might take him out of the World Cup. Teams can change players up to one day before their first games.

In Tampa, Harry Kane’s first-half header earned England a 1-0 win over New Zealand, while there was also a victory for Scotland as teams fine-tune ahead of the tournament’s kickoff next week.

With England manager Thomas Tuchel rotating his entire team at halftime and handing minutes to 22 players in the scorching 32-degree Celsius (90-degree Fahrenheit) heat, the result was secondary to the process.

But Kane’s clinical finish with a glancing header into the bottom corner from Djed Spence’s cross offered a timely reminder of the skipper’s importance to their hopes to win a second Cup.

“We’re here for preparation more than the result,” said Kane after his 67th goal of the season for club and country. “It’s the best shape I’ve ever been in my career. I’m excited, can’t wait for it to get started.”

Earlier, four-times world champions Germany secured a ninth win in a row with a 2-1 victory over World Cup co-hosts United States in Chicago.

Kai Havertz headed in Joshua Kimmich’s free kick to give them a second-minute lead, but the Americans snatched a stunning equaliser when Antonee Robinson thundered in a volley after defender Jonathan Tah had headed away a corner.

But Leroy Sane rifled in from 12 metres to restore Germany’s lead in the 57th minute.

Despite the loss coach Mauricio Pochettino said he was impressed by the character shown by his side.

“Overall, I think it was a good performance. I am happy with the performance of everyone. We play one of the most important teams in the world,” Pochettino told reporters.

“I think we need to be happy with that. We compete, (we were) unlucky, I think it was as an even game… It was an amazing challenge for us to see how we react, how we show character, how we show togetherness, how we start to play under pressure.”

Meanwhile, Portugal defeated Chile 2-1 in an ill-tempered clash in Oeiras where both teams finished with 10 men as Rafael Leao and Ivan Roman received their marching orders.

Goncalo Guedes gave the home side the lead before Bruno Fernandes added a second from outside the box. Lucas Cepeda scored a late consolation for Chile.

“We were superior in the 90 minutes, we managed to control the game very well, especially having a lot of the ball in the last third,” Fernandes told RTP.

Elsewhere, a much-changed Scotland scored all their goals in the first half as they romped to a 4-0 success over Bolivia in New Jersey.

Che Adams bagged two to go with strikes from Lawrence Shankland and Scott McTominay in an impressive performance.

Switzerland and Australia drew 1-1, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were held to the same scoreline by Panama.

Australia coach Tony Popovic said he was confident his side could “punch above our weight”.

“If you ask every Australian, they expect to be right at the end because we always feel that we can punch above our weight,” he said. “We’ve proven that time and time again in all sports, and we’ve done it in football. So we’ve shown what we can do.”

In Qatar four years ago, Australia made it through the group phase and gave eventual champions Argentina a scare in the last 16 before going out to a brave 2-1 defeat.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2026