International Football November 2008

England victorious in Berlin

Germany 1 England 2 (Berlin 19 November 2008)
England continued their winning streak under Fabio Capello with a 2-1 victory over Germany. Matthew Upson poked the ball in after German Keeper Rene Alder flapped at a 23rd minute corner kick. England deserved their lead which they should have doubled in the 62nd minute when Darren Bent rounded Wiese in the German goal, but slipped and missed the unguarded target. Instead, Germany found themselves on level terms a minute later when a mix-up between John Terry and Scott Carson allowed Helmes to steal the ball and roll it into the empty net. Shaun Wright-Phillips struck the post with a superb shot in the 79th minute, but England finally got the winning goal 5 minutes later when John Terry atoned for his earlier indecisiveness which had lead to the German equalizer, by getting on the end of a Downing free-kick with great determination to head the ball into the far corner condemning Germany to a rare home defeat in Berlin.

John Terry and Matthew Upson goals give England win in Germany

In other friendly international matches Diego Maradona began his managerial career for Argentina with a 1-0 win in Scotland while Brazil demolished Portugal 6-2, and Uruguay played out a goalless draw away to France. Robin van Persie scored twice as the Dutch secured a 3-1 home win against Sweden, and Tuncay scored a hat-trick to give Turkey a 4-2 win away to Austria. Giovanni Trapattoni's 6 match unbeaten run as Republic of Ireland manager came to an end when the home side were beaten 3-2 by Poland. Craig Bellamy scored the only goal of the match as Wales won in Denmark while Serbia thrashed Bulgaria 6-1, and South Africa enjoyed a 3-2 win at home to Cameroon.
Among World Cup qualifiers South Korea struck twice without reply in Saudi Arabia while Iran could only manage a 1-1 draw away to the United Arab Emirates. A goal deep into stoppage time gave Australia victory in Bahrain while Tanaka scored twice as Japan won 3-0 in Qatar. Mexico lost 1-0 in Honduras with an own-goal and 2 late dismissals while USA registered a 2-0 home win against Guatemala. Dwight Yorke was among the scorers as Trinidad & Tobago won 3-0 at home to Cuba while Jamaica enjoyed the same result against Canada, and Myrie scored twice as Costa Rica were 3-1 winners in El Salvador. Roy Krishna scored both goals as Fiji won at home to Oceania group winners New Zealand.