Spain's forward Pedro Rodriguez celebrates after scoring during the FIFA 2014 World Cup friendly football match Spain vs Italy at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on March 5, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
MADRID: Pedro Rodriguez’s goal was enough to give World champions Spain a 1-0 win over Italy in their final game before coach Vicente del Bosque names his squad to defend their title later this year in Brazil.
Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa was handed his debut on home soil at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in what was a rematch of the Euro 2012 final which saw Spain successfully defend their title.
However, Costa failed to make much of an impression and it was Spain’s top goal scorer in qualification, Pedro, who made the difference when his shot squirmed under Gianluigi Buffon just after the hour mark.
“I am very happy to have made my debut with Spain and to gain confidence,” Costa told Spanish TV station Telecinco.
“The manager believes in me and I am going to try to play as well as I can with Atletico so I can go to the national team in the best condition.”
Meanwhile, England manager Roy Hodgson drew encouragement from his younger players’ performances after seeing his side edge Denmark 1-0 in their final game before he selects his World Cup squad.
England finished the game with six players aged 25 or under on the pitch and Hodgson believes that their displays against an obdurate Denmark side augur well for the World Cup in Brazil.
“You can’t get me to say anything negative about any of the young players on show today [Wednesday],” he said.
“At one stage we only had Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard who would consider themselves seniors.”
First-half burst helps France see off Dutch
An impressive France proved too strong for the Netherlands in Paris as first-half goals from Karim Benzema and Blaise Matuidi sealed a 2-0 friendly win.
Benzema volleyed home the opener just after the half-hour mark and Matuidi added another three minutes before the interval, and the visitors never came back into the game as they slumped to a first defeat in 19 matches.
In another encounter, Neymar scored a hat-trick as Brazil routed South Africa 5-0 Wednesday but a host of World Cup rivals were facing searching questions 99 days out from the showpiece event after a night of below-par performances.
On the other hand, Germany were booed off after failing to impress in a fortunate 1-0 win over fellow World Cup side Chile as the South Americans dominated their hosts in Wednesday’s friendly.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2014.
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