Silva scored in the 40th minute as La Roja thrashed Venezuela won 5-0 in Malaga. Spain’s other goals came from Iniesta and a Soldado hat-trick.
Sergio Aguero didn’t find the net but laid on the first of Lionel Messi’s hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Switzerland. Like Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, now a regular in the Argentina side, also played the full game.
Skipper Vincent Kompany picked up a booking but played the full 90 minutes of Belgium’s 1-1 draw in Greece, while Samir Nasri’s France recorded an impressive 2-1 win away to Germany courtesy of goals from Giroud and Malouda. Nasri got a full 90 minutes under his belt during an excellent performance from Les Blues.
Aleks Kolarov played in Serbia’s 2-0 win over Armenia on Tuesday, setting up one of the goals, and then came on as a sub 24 hours later in the 0-0 draw with Cyprus. Hopefully he’ll be fully rested by the weekend!
Edin Dzeko was the fans’ man of the match as Bosnia lost 2-1 to Brazil in Switzerland on Tuesday. The City No.10 played the full 90 minutes and, like Kolarov, provided an assist – but Papac spoiled a good night with a 90th-minute own-goal,
Stefan Savic’s Montenegro had to rely on two Stevan Jovetic strikes to beat Iceland 2-1 in Podgorica, with Savic playing the full match, as did Ryan McGivern, who couldn’t prevent Northern Ireland losing 3-0 to Norway in Belfast.
Vladimir Weiss scored one of Slovakia’s goals in a 2-1 win in Turkey, while Kolo and Yaya Toure flew to Abidjan for Ivory Coast’s friendly with Guinea – only to end up not playing due to minor niggles!
For the record, the game ended 0-0 and Italy’s decision to drop Mario Balotelli backfired with a 1-0 home loss to the USA.
