Friendlies go well for Aduriz, Turkey and Ukraine
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Article summary
Aritz Aduriz scored his first international goal as European champions Spain held Italy, Turkey and Ukraine both securing home wins as nine finals contenders played friendly games.
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- Full pre-UEFA EURO 2016 friendly fixture list
- Full rundown of March friendlies
- Wednesday's action: Croatia, Poland and Romania win
- UEFA EURO 2016 final tournament fixtures
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: European Qualifiers
Italy 1-1 Spain (Insigne 68; Aduriz 70)
Italy: Buffon; Darmian, Bonucci, Astori; Florenzi (De Silvestri 89), Parolo (Jorginho 89), Thiago Motta, Giaccherini (Antonelli 79); Candreva (Bernardeschi 61), Pellè (Zaza 61), Éder (Insigne 52)
Spain: De Gea; Juanfran (Alba 79), Piqué, Ramos (Nacho 46), Azpilicueta; Fàbregas, San José, Alcántara (Isco 61); Mata (Koke 46), Aduriz (David Silva 71), Morata (Alcácer 86)
David de Gea boosted his chances of displacing Iker Casillas as Spain's No1 with a series of fine saves as the European reigning champions held Italy for 68 minutes until home substitute Lorenzo Insigne broke the deadlock. Aritz Aduriz swiftly equalised from close range after Gianluigi Buffon had parried a header from the goalkeeper's Juventus team-mate Álvaro Morata. It was the in-form 35-year-old's first international goal in only his second game for Spain.
Turkey 2-1 Sweden (Cenk Tosun 32 81; Granqvist 74)
Turkey: Volkan Babacan; Gökhan Gönül, Mehmet Topal, Hakan Balta (Ahmet Çalık 39), Caner Erkin; Ozan Tufan (Çağlar Söyüncü 90+4), Selçuk İnan; Arda Turan (Olcay Şahan 90+2), Oğuzhan Özyakup (Alper Potuk 63), Volkan Şen (Frei 65); Cenk Tosun (Yunus Mallı 82)
Sweden: Olsen; Lustig, Granqvist, Lindelöf, Augustinsson; Durmaz (Larsson 46), Ekdal (Hiljemark 81), Kallström (Wernbloom 71), Zengin (Forsberg 62); Guidetti (Kujovic 62), Berg
The first international match at the Antalya Stadium ended in success for the Crescent-Stars. The combination of some fine Volkan Babacan saves and Cenk Tosun's close-range strike left Turkey 1-0 up at the break, but Andreas Granqvist levelled following a set-piece, with the home midfield flagging as the game went on. Cenk, however, popped up to head the winner from Selçuk İnan's free-kick.
Denmark 2-1 Iceland (N Jørgensen 51 54; Traustason 90)
Iceland: Kristinsson; Hauksson, Árnason, R Sigurdsson, Magnússon; Hallfredsson (Gudmundsson 46), Gunnarsson, G Sigurdsson (T Bjarnason 82), B Bjarnason (Traustason 72); Finnbogason, Sigthórsson (Bödvarsson 72)
In their first game under Norwegian coach Åge Hareide, Denmark secured a comfortable win against UEFA EURO 2016 contenders Iceland, their 3-5-2 formation proving hard for the visitors to handle. Iceland pushed forward after the break but conceded two Nicolai Jørgensen goals in a matter of minutes. Arnor Ingvi Traustason came on to score his second international goal, but Iceland's defence may be their main concern.
Czech Republic 0-1 Scotland (Anya 10)
Czech Republic: Koubek; Kadeřábek, Sivok, Kadlec, Limberský; Darida (Rada 87), Vacek (Mareček ; Dočkal (Kolář 65), Frýdek (Skalák 46), Šural (Puidil 78); Necid (Vydra 65)
Bořek Dočkal hit the bar in the eighth minute for the home side, but within two minutes, Ikechi Anya calmly finished a counterattack, beating debutant goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek – standing in for the injured Petr Čech. Allan McGregor made decent saves from Vladimír Darida, Martin Frýdek and substitute Daniel Kolář, the Czechs a little under par with Tomáš Rosický, Jaroslav Plašil and David Pavelka also absent.
Wales 1-1 Northern Ireland (Church 89p; Cathcart 60)
Wales: Hennessey (Ward 46); Gunter, Matthews, Chester, A Williams; Vaughan (Allen 71), G Williams (Isgrove 62); Ledley (Crofts 46), Cotterill, Lawrence (J Williams 63); Vokes (Church 76)
Northern Ireland: McGovern; McAuley, Evans (D Lafferty 73), Cathcart; McNair (Paton 74); Davies, Dallas (Ferguson 90), Norwood, MacLaughlin (Hughes 81); K Lafferty (McKay 81), Washington (Ward 46)
Wales manager Chris Coleman named an experimental starting lineup while both sides changed their defensive shape. On a slippery playing surface, Craig Cathcart opened the scoring, turning to shoot past substitute goalkeeper Danny Ward. However, in the final minute, Wales substitute Simon Church dusted himself down after being brought down in the area to slot in the equaliser from penalty spot.
Ukraine 1-0 Cyprus (Stepanenko 40)
Ukraine: Boyko; Fedetskiy, Kucher, Putivtsev, Shevchuk (Kamenyuka 81); Stepanenko (Tymoshchuk 72), Rotan (Malyshev 46), Gusev (Petriak 46), Yarmolenko, Garmash (Kovalenko 46); Zozulya (Kravets 63)
Taras Stepanenko beat Cyprus goalkeeper Kostas Panayi in a one-on-one to win the game for Ukraine. One of five players given their Ukraine debuts in Odesa – along with Artyom Putivtsev, Ivan Petriak, Maksym Malyshev and Mykyta Kamenyuka – Shakhtar's Viktor Kovalenko came closest to doubling the home side's lead, heading wide from Andriy Yarmolenko's cross. Pieros Sotiriou hit the post late on for Cyprus.