In other matches Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored twice in Austria to help the Dutch come from 3-0 down to beat the hosts 4-3, while Germany scored 4 times without reply away to Switzerland with Mario Gomez grabbing a brace. David Villa scored the only goal as Spain beat world champions Italy, and Pato lobbed the keeper to give Brazil a 1-0 win over Sweden in London. Poland suffered a worrying 3-0 home defeat at the hands of the Americans, while Morocco humiliated Belgium 4-1 in Brussels. Kenny Miller squeezed in the equaliser for Scotland after Niko Kranjcar had wrong-footed Craig Gordon with a swerving shot to give Croatia an early away lead in the rain. Freddy Eastwood scored both goals as Wales won 2-0 in Luxembourg, while Northern Ireland enjoyed a 4-1 home win against Georgia. Michael Mifsud scored 5 times for Malta in their 7-1 demolition of Liechtenstein, and Montenegro celebrated a 3-1 home win against Norway. Nicklas Bendtner and Jan Koller scored for their countries as Denmark and the Czech Republic drew 1-1, while Romania outclassed Russia 3-0 with Daniel Niculae scoring twice on home soil. Newly crowned champions of Africa, Egypt, lost 2-0 at home to Argentina, while South Africa prepared for hosting the 2010 World Cup with a creditable 3-0 win over Paraguay.

In World Cup qualifiers the top Asian teams found the going tough, with Japan losing 1-0 in Bahrain and champions Iraq losing to 2 Fabio Sizar goals in Qater. Iran got off to a flying start under their new manager Ali Daei with 2 goals in the first 4 minutes, but were pegged back to 2-2 away to Kuwait. China v Australia and North Korea v South Korea (in China) finished goalless, while Saudi Arabia lost 3-0 in Uzbekistan.