Favourites Argentina, Brazil win friendlies days ahead of kick-off

Multi-champions Brazil, Argentina and Germany all won their preparatory games for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Saturday, although by small margins, with former champion England and hopeful Portugal also securing victories.

The busy day of friendlies saw some of the biggest stars on display, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Vini Jr and Mohamed Salah playing, but three-time champion Argentina opted to rest ⁠Lionel Messi against Honduras in Texas in a game where forward Lautaro Martinez shone with a goal and one assist for a 2-0 win. Simeone scored the second for Argentina.

Five-times champion Brazil beat Egypt 2-1 in Cleveland with Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes scoring early from inside the box and Lyon forward Endrick adding in the second half after an assist from Barcelona’s Raphinha. Zico scored for Egypt, while Salah played the first half and seemed to be in good form.

There was some drama with Brazil and AS Roma right back Wesley leaving the field in tears after what appeared to be a serious muscle injury in the left leg, which might take him out of the World Cup. Teams can change players up to one day before their first games.

Kane shines in England victory: Harry Kane’s first-half header earned England a 1-0 win over New Zealand in Tampa, while there were also victories for Scotland and Belgium as teams fine-tune ahead of the tournament’s kickoff next week.

With England manager Thomas Tuchel rotating his entire team at halftime and handing minutes to 22 players in the scorching 32-degree Celsius (90-degree Fahrenheit) heat, the result was secondary to the process.

But Kane’s clinical finish with a glancing header into the bottom corner from Djed Spence’s cross offered a timely reminder of the skipper’s importance to their hopes to win a second Cup.

Germany prevail over US: Four-times world champions Germany secured a ninth win in a row with a 2-1 victory over World Cup co-hosts United States in Chicago.

Kai Havertz headed in Joshua Kimmich’s free kick to give them a second-minute lead, but the Americans snatched a stunning equaliser when Antonee Robinson thundered in a volley after defender Jonathan Tah had headed away a corner.

But Leroy Sane rifled in from 12 metres to restore Germany’s lead in the 57th minute.

“I’m happy with the performance of everyone,” said US coach Mauricio Pochettino, describing his side as “unlucky” to lose.

“We played one of the most important teams in the world. I think we need to be happy with that.”

The co-hosts are favorites to progress beyond Group D, and have high hopes of going deep into the knockout rounds thanks to a crop of elite players including Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie.

“We are going into a decisive week,” said Pochettino, who took over in late 2024, and shook up a declining side by driving competition for places, even among those top players.

“During one-year-and-a-half, we were a little bit tough. We wanted to challenge them, we wanted to challenge everyone,” he said.

Portugal edge past Chile: Portugal defeated Chile 2-1 in an ill-tempered clash in Oeiras where both teams finished with 10 men as Rafael Leao and Ivan Roman received their marching orders.

Portugal started Ronaldo. The star had a strike ruled offside just before half-time before he went off amid a raft of half-time substitutions.

Goncalo Guedes gave the home side the lead before Bruno Fernandes added a second from outside the box. Lucas Cepeda scored a late consolation for Chile.

“We were superior in the 90 minutes, we managed to control the game very well, especially having a lot of the ball in the last third,” Fernandes told RTP.

Striker Romelu Lukaku continued his comeback from injury for Belgium with 25 minutes off the bench as they enjoyed a 5-0 victory over 10-man Tunisia in Brussels.

Leandro Trossard, Charles De Ketelaere, Kevin De Bruyne, Dodi Lukebakio and Nicolas Raskin scored the goals as Lukaku grabbed an assist.

“We wanted a good performance in front of our fans,” Belgium coach Rudi Garcia said. “It is a good preparation for the World Cup, we know this team can do great things.”

A much-changed Scotland scored all their goals in the first half as they romped to a 4-0 success over Bolivia in New Jersey.

Che Adams bagged two to go with strikes from Lawrence Shankland and Scott McTominay in an impressive performance.

Scotland are a week away from their first appearance at a World Cup in 28 years against Haiti.

Switzerland and Australia drew 1-1, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were held to the same scoreline by Panama.

Agencies