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Sono scese in campo le nazionali di Inghilterra, Scozia,Galles ed Irlanda del Nord in gare amichevoli. La nazionale di Capello ha regolato l’ Egitto per tre reti ad una; da segnalare la doppietta di Peter Crouch. Era attesa la reazione del pubblico dopo il “caso Terry”: la maggior parte dei soliti ottantamila presenti di “Wembley” ( foto )ha applaudito il difensore del Chelsea, contestato però da una minoranza. E’ tornata alla vittoria anche la Scozia che ha piegato la Repubblica Ceka con un goal di Brown. Male, invece, Galles ed Irlanda del Nord, battute , rispettivamente,da Svezia ed Albania.

Crouch (left) was superb for England after coming off the bench at Wembley

Peter Crouch maintained his prolific England goalscoring record as they came from behind to beat Egypt at Wembley.

The visitors rocked England when Mohamed Zidan cashed in on Matthew Upson’s slip to give them the lead their early ambition merited – but Fabio Capello’s side responded in style after the break to run out deserved winners.Deposed England captain John Terry was barracked by a small minority of the Wembley crowd in the early stages, but the jeers were swiftly replaced by cheers and this victory against the highly regarded holders of the Africa Cup of Nations will have satisfied coach Capello.And it was two of the Italian’s substitutes, Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who made the major impact as they staked their claim for a place in England’s squad for the World Cup in South Africa.

606: DEBATE A great second-half performance has given England the victory McFerrar

And in the wider context, Capello will now hope victory will enable his World Cup plans to get back on track in the wake of the recent upheaval of Terry’s dismissal as captain amid allegations he had a relationship with the ex-girlfriend of former team-mate Wayne Bridge – and Bridge’s subsequent withdrawal from international football.England gave a debut to Leighton Baines and the Everton defender delivered a solid display, while Robert Green may well have now moved into pole position to take the goalkeeping berth as he got the nod ahead of David James.

Terry was given a mixed reception when his name was announced, and his first touch of the ball was also jeered but there was also plenty of support for the Chelsea defender around Wembley.

England: Green, Brown, Terry, Upson, Baines, Walcott (Wright-Phillips 57), Lampard (Carrick 46), Barry, Gerrard (Milner 73), Rooney (Cole 86), Defoe (Crouch 46).
Subs Not Used: James, Warnock, Lescott, Shawcross, Beckham, Heskey, Downing, Hart.

Goals: Crouch 56, Wright-Phillips 75, Crouch 80.

Egypt: El Hadari, Al-Muhammadi, Said (Salem 86), Fathi, Gomaa, Ghaly, Moawad (Abdelshafy 76), Hassan (Nagy 64), Abd Rabou, Zidan (Aboutreika 76), Ebdelmaby (Zaki 64).
Subs Not Used: El Sayed, Fathallah, Tawfik, El Saka, Raouf, Eid, Hamdy.

Booked: Fathi.

Goals: Zidan 23.

Att: 80,602

Scott Brown (left) scored the winner at Hampden Park

Scott Brown’s goal gave Craig Levein a winning start as Scotland coach despite future Euro 2012 opponents Czech Republic dominating much of the game.

Striker Vaclav Sverkos was denied by fine saves from Scotland keeper Craig Gordon either side of the break, while Graham Dorrans cleared off the line.A Barry Robson free-kick stung the fingers of keeper Jaroslav Drobny with Scotland’s first threat on 44 minutes.But Brown stabbed the winner after 62 minutes from Robson’s header back.Scotland had been forced on to the back foot from the kick off by a fluent Czech side and it only took a few minutes for Jaroslav Plasil to send a low drive a couple feet wide from 22 yards.Levein had to alter his starting line-up before kick-off when James McFadden was ruled out of the friendly at Hampden Park with a groin injury.

( BBC Football )

Bolton striker Johan Elmander fires Sweden ahead just before the break

Johan Elmander struck a minute before the break as Wales slipped to a friendly defeat by Sweden in Swansea.

The Bolton Wanderers striker was free at the far post to fire home a corner into the top of the net.Ola Toivonen earlier had a goal harshly ruled out for offside and Tobias Hysen was denied late on by substitute keeper Wayne Hennessey.Wales captain James Collins had a header cleared off the line while Rob Earnshaw saw a close-range shot saved.It was not the result manager John Toshack was hoping for as he starts to prepare for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, which begin in September.His preparations were not helped by the loss of midfield star Aaron Ramsey, who suffered an horrific leg break playing for Arsenal last weekend.But Toshack also left out influential captain Craig Bellamy sparking speculation over the Manchester City striker’s international future in the build-up.

( BBC Football )

Kristi Vangjeli and Kyle Lafferty battle for possession in Tirana

Northern Ireland lost to Albania in a dull friendly played on a poor pitch at the Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tirana.

Albania had more possession in the first half and Ervin Skela scored with a fine 25-yard free-kick into the top corner in the 26th minute.In the second half Stephen Craigan headed against the bar and then fired a shot against a post with Rory Patterson almost scoring from the rebound.

( BBC Football )