Swiss give England mountain to climb

England 2 Switzerland 2 (Wembley Euro qualifier 4 June 2011)
England fought back from the jaw's of defeat to earn a point after being stunned twice in 3 minutes by Tranquillo Barnetta's free-kicks. Barnetta's first free-kick in the 32nd minute sailed over both sets of heads and nestled in the back of the net and 3 minutes later he struck another free-kick from the left side to deceive a two-man wall and beat Joe Hart at his near post, but within a minute Jack Wilshere's run into the box resulted in a penalty which Frank Lampard squeezed under the body of Benaglio. England were level 6 minutes after the break when Baines chested a cross down for Ashley Young to volley into the far corner. Bent failed to get past Benaglio after being put through by Wilshere in the 65th minute and had a golden opportunity 6 minutes later when a Benaglio save from Young's shot fell to him but he missed from 10 yards with the keeper sprawling. The draw leaves England with very little room for error in their remaining 3 Euro qualifiers.

Joe Hart beaten by Barnetta free kick

In other weekend matches Mario Gomez scored at the end of each half as Germany won 2-1 in Austria while Turkey drew 1-1 in Belgium and a Gridin double for Kazakhstan send Azerbaijan home 2-1 losers. Robbie Keane added 2 more goals to his Irish tally with both goals in Macedonia while Russia came from a goal down at home to beat Armenia with a hat-trick from Pavluychenko and Croatia came from behind with 2 goals in as many minutes to overcome Georgia 2-1 in Split. France drew 1-1 in Belarus while Bosnia & Herzegovina lost 3-0 in Romania with 2 goals from Ciprian Marica and Italy eased past Estonia by the same score line in Modena. Liechtenstein shocked Lithuania 2-0 in Vaduz and Latvia lost 2-1 at home to Israel while Fetfatzidis scored twice for Greece in their 3-1 home win over Malta. Sweden cruised to a 4-1 win in Moldova with 2 goals from Elmander, and 2 goals gave Denmark victory in Iceland while a single goal in Portugal saw Norway on the losing side. England were given a boost when Montenegro were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Bulgaria.

Among friendly matches the Netherlands held hosts Brazil to a goalless draw and Spain battered the USA 4-0 on American soil.

On Sunday in friendly matches Australia put 3 past New Zealand in Adelaide without reply while Argentina lost 2-1 in Poland, and among African qualifiers Ethiopia held the visiting Nigerians to a 2-2 draw with Saladin Seid scoring both goals for the hosts while The Ivory Coast enjoyed a 6-2 goal fest in Benin and a hat-trick from Issam Jenaa helped Tunisia trounce ten-man Chad 5-0 in Sousse. South Africa held Egypt to a goalless draw in Cairo.

On Monday after a goalless first-half France came from behind with 3 late goals to demolish Ukraine 4-1 in Donetsk.

On Tuesday Germany took another step closer to the Euro finals with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan while Finland were thumped 5-0 in Sweden thanks to a hat-trick from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the Faroe Islands enjoyed a surprising 2-0 home win over Estonia. In friendly matches the Republic of Ireland beat Italy 2-0 in Belgium and Latvia ended their match away to Austria with 8 men and a 3-1 defeat.