WednesdayPoland 1 - 3 UruguayAlbania 0 - 0 CameroonAustria 0 - 3 Ivory CoastGabon 2 - 2 PortugalTurkey 1 - 1 DenmarkTunisia 1 - 2 SwitzerlandRussia 2 - 2 USAGeorgia 0 - 0 EgyptLONDON – Zlatan Ibrahimovic christened Sweden’s new stadium with a sprinkling of gold on Wednesday, scoring three classy goals and an unforgettable one in a 4-2 friendly win over England, while Argentina’s Lionel Messi drew a blank in Riyadh.With only a handful of low-key World Cup qualifiers on the fixture list, coaches of some of the likely favourites for the trophy in Brazil in 2014 got a last chance this year to cast an eye over their squads in a raft of friendlies.World champions Spain beat Panama 5-1 in Panama City, the Netherlands and Germany drew 0-0 in Amsterdam, France won 2-1 in Italy and Messi’s Argentina were held 0-0 by Saudi Arabia but it was Sweden’s victory in Stockholm that stole the limelight.Ibrahimovic gave Sweden the advantage with an instinctive finish but after an experimental England, who gave debuts to six players, took a 2-1 halftime lead the Paris St Germain striker provided a grandstand finale to a lively friendly.He equalised with a shot after a beautiful piece of chest control, slammed in a low free kick to put the Swedes ahead but saved the best until last with an acrobatic overhead kick from 25 metres to raise the roof of the Friends Arena.“Ibrahimovic’s performance was certainly world-class. Credit to him, he scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live. It was his night,” England captain Steven Gerrard told ITV on the night of his 100th international cap.Germany, whose last match was a 4-4 World Cup qualifying draw with Sweden, kept a clean sheet in the Netherlands in a friendly the visitors dominated.Gomis winnerBafetimbi Gomis came off the bench to give France victory in Parma against Euro 2012 runners-up Italy.Mario Balotelli set up Stephan El Shaarawy to put Italy ahead with his first goal for his country but France hit back almost immediately with a superb strike from Mathieu Valbuena.Messi failed in his bid to set an outright record for the most Argentina goals in a calendar year.Saudi goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah did well to keep out substitute Augusto Fernandez and Messi, who shares the Argentina record of 12 goals in a year with Gabriel Batistuta.
