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England, Portugal Beat Rivals, Iceland Changes Victory With Draw

England, Portugal Beat Rivals,  Iceland Changes Victory With Draw
England, Portugal Beat Rivals,  Iceland Changes Victory With Draw

England and Portugal enjoyed comfortable home wins in their final World Cup warm-up matches on Thursday, beating Costa Rica 2-0 and Algeria 3-0 respectively.

South Korea was held to an unimpressive 0-0 draw against Bolivia while Iceland, the surprise package of Euro 2016 which are looking to pull off more upsets in Russia, drew 2-2 at home to Ghana after leading 2-0, Reuters reported.

A stunning strike from Marcus Rashford and a Danny Welbeck header gave a confident-looking England victory over the Central Americans in a meeting of two World Cup qualifiers in Leeds.

England, whose manager Gareth Southgate made 10 changes from the side which beat Nigeria 2-1 at Wembley last week, dominated possession against a mostly unadventurous Costa Rica side but created few clear chances.

The match was the last for both teams before their World Cup openers, England facing Tunisia on June 18 and Costa Rica meeting Serbia the day before.

Forward Goncalo Guedes staked his claim for a place in Portugal’s starting line-up with two goals in the win over Algeria, which missed out on Russia, at a soggy Stadium of Light in Lisbon.

Guedes fired the European champion ahead from Bernardo Silva’s cushioned header and nodded in the third from Raphael Guerreiro’s cross.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo, making his only appearance in the warm-up friendlies, set up the second for Bruno Fernandes to head in. Portugal opens its campaign against Spain on June 15.

Famed for its physique and set-piece prowess, Iceland went ahead in the sixth minute when defender Kari Arnasson headed home a corner via a defender and Alfred Finnbogason made it two before the break.

Ghana, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, hit back through Kasim Nuhu before Thomas Partey fired home three minutes from time.

Shortly before the match, the Ghanaian government announced that it would dissolve its FA after officials, including the body’s president, were shown in a documentary taking kickbacks, Information Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said.

The two-hour documentary, “When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm”, was provided to the authorities last month before being screened in public for the first time on Wednesday.

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