LONDON, Nov 14: Mix Diskerud scored four minutes into stoppage time as the United States twice fought back from a goal down to hold Russia to a 2-2 draw in a thrilling friendly on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, late call-up Robert Cornthwaite was the unlikely hero with an 87th-minute winner as Australia came from behind to defeat South Korea 2-1 while New Zealand drew 1-1 with China.
Fabio Capello extended his unbeaten run as Russia coach in Krasnodar where debutant Fyodor Smolov of Anzhi Makhachkalaput the home team 1-0 up in the ninth minute before Michael Bradley levelled with a spectacular volley in the 76th.
Roman Shirokov restored Russia’s advantage with an 84th-minute penalty and it seemed as if they would extend their winning streak to five games under Capello.
But Diskerud, who had entered in the 87th minute, pounced on the rebound and scored with a right-foot shot that goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov got a hand to.
Cornthwaite, who plays his club football in South Korea, scored the winning goal for Australia with three minutes remaining in the South Korean city of Hwaseong.
With both teams free from the present round of matches in Asian World Cup qualifying, both coaches took the opportunity to experiment although it was a veteran who opened the scoring.After just 11 minutes, Lee Dong-guk volleyed home from inside the penalty area.
Two minutes before the break, Australia drew level. Tommy Oar threaded a pass through the Korean defence for Nikita Rukavytsya to finish coolly.
With time running out, Cornthwaite bundled the ball home from close range as Korea failed to clear an Australian corner.
In Shanghai, a Chris Wood goal was enough to grab New Zealand a share of the spoils against China. The Kiwi striker’s 43rd minute header cancelled out Zhao Peng’s 30th minute opener at the Hongkou Stadium.
China coach Jose Camacho, whose side is out of World Cup qualifying and is now preparing for next year’s Asian Cup preliminaries, said his players were making progress, albeit slowly.
“Overall I think we are progressing as a team but patience is needed, our progress is slow,” the ex-Spain and Real Madrid boss said. “But the first half performance shows we are improving.”
In other friendlies, Armenia beat Lithuania 4-2 after an inspired performance by Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan while Egypt were held to a goalless draw at Georgia in a dour game in Tbilisi.
Results: Russia 2 United States 2 Armenia 4 Lithuania 2 Georgia 0 Egypt 0 Tanzania 1 Kenya 0 China 1 New Zealand 1 South Korea 1 Australia 2 —Agencies