LONDON: Italy’s World Cup build-up suffered a major blow on Saturday when midfielder Riccardo Montolivo broke his leg during their penultimate warm-up game against Ireland which ended in a 0-0 draw while Mexico’s 3-1 win over Ecuador was overshadowed by a broken leg for Luis Montes that ruled the midfielder out of the finals.

In other Brazil 2014 warm-ups, the Netherlands beat Ghana, Greece held Portugal and Colombia squandered a two-goal halftime lead and were held to draw by Senegal.

AC Milan captain Montolivo was injured in the early stages of the friendly at Fulham’s Craven Cottage following a crunching tackle from Ireland defender Alex Pearce.

Skippering Italy on the night he needed several minutes of treatment and was seen mouthing “it’s broken” before eventually being carried off.

“It’s what we feared, a fractured tibia. It will probably need some months. Riccardo is out of the World Cup. He didn’t deserve this,” team doctor Enrico Castellacci told Rai TV.

Montolivo played seven times in Italy’s World Cup qualifying campaign and had been expected to be a key member of the team in Brazil.

Making matters worse, Montolivo’s replacement Alberto Aquilani also left before halftime complaining of dizziness after knocking heads with a defender.

Both Montolivo and Aquilani were brought to a local hospital for tests. In Aquilani’s case, the tests showed he was not seriously injured.

Prandelli, whose side kick off their World Cup campaign against England on June 14, has yet to prune his provisional 30-man squad down to a final group of 23 and he will now have to decide who will replace Montolivo.

In Dallas, Montes scored the goal that put Mexico ahead of Ecuador for good in a World Cup tune-up. Two minutes later, he sustained an apparent leg fracture that cost him a chance to play for El Tri in Brazil.

Montes was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital with Mexico coach Miguel Herrera later confirming he had suffered a broken tibia and fibula.

“It’s the tibia and fibula and he’ll have to have an operation which won’t be at all easy,” Herrera told the post-match news conference.

Mexico, coming off a 3-0 win over Israel, play Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday night in Chicago and Portugal on Friday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Their World Cup opener in Brazil is on June 13 against Cameroon.

Marco Fabian scored with a long shot that again beat Ecuador keeper Maximo Banguera diving to his right for a 2-0 lead in the 69th minute. Giovani dos Santos made it 3-0 when his shot bounced off the post and went off Banguera’s head into the net in the 76th minute.

Ecuador, who are in World Cup Group ‘E’ with Switzerland, France and Honduras, did restore a little pride with a low free kick from Enner Valencia which skidded through a crowded penalty area.

Netherlands continued their build-up to the finals with a 1-0 win over fellow Brazil-bound Ghana in Rotterdam, Manchester United striker Robin van Persie’s fifth minute goal proving decisive.

The Dutch, who open their World Cup campaign against titleholders Spain in a rematch of the 2010 final, have only one further prep lined up, against Wales on Wednesday in Amsterdam.

Van Persie’s goal came after a neat build-up between Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.

The 2010 quarter-finalists Ghana were unable to produce any real chances against a stout Dutch defence but looked in good physical shape ahead of their opening World Cup game against the United States on June 14.

Dutch coach Louis van Gaal, who takes over at Manchester United after the World Cup, said: “We created quite a few chances even if the game wasn’t of great quality.

“I’m very happy with the way my new (5-3-2) system worked. For sure it’s not attractive as the old system of 4-3-3, you shouldn’t wait for a great show with 5-3-2.

“But up against Ghana, which is a great side, this system worked really well. There will be critics but I assume and I truly believe in this system and in my players chosen to carry it out.”

In Lisbon, Portugal, without injured star striker Cristiano Ronaldo (thigh), Pepe and Raul Meireles, played out a goalless draw with Greece.

The fixture was a rematch of the Euro 2004 final in the Portuguese capital which the hosts under then coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, now boss of Brazil, lost 1-0.

The under-strength Portuguese lacked a spark that could have translated their sporadic forward moves into goals. As well as Real Madrid star Ronaldo, Portugal felt the absence of playmaker Joao Moutinho in midfield

“One situation we have to be prepared for is not having our regular players available,” Portugal coach Paulo Bento said. “We paid the price of our lack of effectiveness in attack.”

Portugal open in Brazil against Germany, before the USA and then Ghana in Group ‘G’ while Greece are in Group ‘C’ with Colombia, Japan and Ivory Coast.

With key forward Radamel Falcao watching on as he recovers from a knee ligament injury, his usual strike partner Teofilo Gutierrez put Colombia ahead in the 11th minute at San Lorenzo’s Nuevo Gasometro in Buenos Aires.

Fellow striker Carlos Bacca increased Colombia’s lead on the stroke of half-time when he rifled in Victor Ibarbo’s low right cross with the South Americans dominant in the first-half.

Senegal pulled one back less than two minutes after the restart through Moussa Konate, who shot from the left across veteran keeper Faryd Mondragon’s goal and in at the far post.

Midfielder Cheikh Ndoye equalised five minutes later with a shot from outside the box that surprised the 42-year-old Mondragon, set to go to his third finals in a 20-year span as his country’s second choice keeper.

Elswhere, Croatia tuned up for their clash with hosts Brazil in the World Cup curtain-raiser with a 2-1 win over Mali, while in Oslo Fabio Capello’s Russia were held 1-1 by Norway and Algeria saw off Armenia 3-1.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2014