International friendlies round up: how did the World Cup favourites get on? | OneFootball

Ollie Whitmore, Chief football news reporter

It was a frustrating night for two World Cup heavyweights as eight qualified nations begun their final preparations before the tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico gets underway in just a week’s time.

France, widely tipped as favourites to lift the Jules Rimet trophy for a third time to avenge their defeat to Argentina in the final in Qatar, were stunned by the Ivory Coast as fellow frontrunners Spain were frustrated by Iraq on home soil.

With time running out for players to put their causes forward for a place in the starting eleven on football’s biggest stage, FromTheSpot looks back on this evening’s matches and what we can learn from them.

Spain 1-1 Iraq: first goal for Doski holds La Roja to stalemate

Former world champions Spain were held to a third draw in five matches courtesy of an audacious lob from Merchas Doski, his first ever goal for his country, cancelling out the opener from Ferran Torres 16 minutes into the encounter.

It wasn’t the send off that La Roja would have wanted, as they travel to Peru for a final game prior to meeting Cape Verde in their opening game of the tournament on Monday 15th of June.

As expected, Spain were the dominant force throughout the match with over two thirds of the possession, but must find a clinical edge quickly if they are to avoid similar results in the group stage.

Though it is anticipated that fewer points will be required to make the knockouts, with more third place spots granting progression if they are one of the strongest teams in that position, but it is for that reason La Roja must return to winning ways.

Rhys Webb, Chief Spanish football reporter

Iraq may have been sloppy in possession at times, but looked rather dangerous on the counter-attack and were able to haul themselves level when a moment of magic from Doski caught Joan Garcia off guard from distance.

Thrust into a tricky group that also includes Norway, France and Senegal, those moments of magic will be exactly what Iraq hope to replicate this summer as they make their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup since losing all three of their group stage games in 1986.

Drawing from behind against Spain – albeit only in a friendly – will offer significant confidence to Graham Arnold’s men, who have had a rather unusual path to their first World Cup in four decades.

As the 62-year-old Australian told World Soccer, Iraq’s preparations for their intercontinental playoff against Bolivia were disrupted by the ongoing conflict in Iran, which forced the Lions of Mesopotamia to endure a two-and-a-half-day long journey to Mexico, via the Jordanian border and a stopover in Lisbon.

But that will not matter anymore to Iraq, who now have the World Cup firmly in their sights and will be buoyed by what is, on paper, an impressive result against the tournament favourites.

France 1-2 Ivory Coast: strong Bleus side surrender victory

It wasn’t a much better night for Les Bleus, as Diddier Dechamps fielded quite the line up – including Jules Koundé, Rayan Cherki, Michael Olise, and Kylian Mbappé – were beaten for the first time in 364 days.

Cherki gave them the lead in the 45th minute by dancing into the box and firing low into the bottom left, a goal that bore echoes of his strike against eventual Premier League champions Arsenal.

But the lead would last just eight minutes as right back Guéla Doué – the elder brother to young France and PSG superstar Désiré – to get a goal back and level the tie.

The visitors weren’t done there, as Manchester United winger Amed Diallo to find a winner six minutes from time to shock the last tournament’s finalists at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

Mbappé had a quiet evening up top, having been on a mission to break Olivier Giroud’s all-time record of 57 goals on his 97th appearance but the captain was substituted at half-time to leave him still on 56.

Similarly to Spain’s encounter, it was one that saw the hosts have the majority of the ball and chances yet struggle to find a goal that would put the game to bed before being pegged back.

France would be wise to learn as much as they could from the defeat, which have been rare of late with the country going into the match on a run of nine games without losing and enjoyed an unbeaten qualifying campaign.

Sweden 2-2 Greece: Potter’s side denied by late equalizer

It also wasn’t to be for former Brighton and West Ham manager Graham Potter, who saw his Sweden side concede a 95th-minute leveller for Al-Khaleej loanee Giorgos Masouras at the Strawberry Stadium.

Konstantinos Tsimikas had put Greece one-nil up just 10 minutes into proceedings, before Viktor Gyökeres and Club Brugge forward Gustaf Nilsson hauled their team ahead in 16 second-half minutes.

It was a battle of similar systems, with both Sweden and Greece operating with a back three and five in midfield and both managers opting to change their entire outfield personnel during the second period.

The only difference being that the hosts managed to qualify for this year’s tournament.

Debutant Taha Abdi Ali came off the bench to great effect taking just six minutes to set up his fellow substitute Nilsson, in what was a first outing to remember for the Malmo winger.

Liverpool striker Alexander Isak had a less active match than his counterpart Gyökeres, while other Premier League star Anthony Elanga was a late addition off the bench.

Arsenal’s number nine found his scoring touch to avenge Sweden’s 2022 playoff final defeat to Poland last month, scoring the winner in a frenetic 3-2 encounter, and his continued form will please Potter with just one friendly remaining.

Panama 4-2 Dominican Republic: Canaleros find scoring touch before return

One of two sides that managed to avoid an upset this evening, Panama made sure they outscored the Dominican Republic to win their penultimate friendly before making an anticipated return to the world stage.

This year’s tournament will be their second World Cup appearance, after heading out during the group stage in 2018 and face the familiar task of taking on England as well as clashes with Croatia and Ghana in Group L.

Tomás Rodríguez and Victor Griffith had Los Canaleros, ranked 33rd in the world and 110 places above their opponents by FIFA, two goals up at the break.

This came before Cecilio Waterman and 18-year-old Kadir Barria quashed a second-half resurgence from the Republic, scoring two of their own through Deportivo striker Mariano Díaz and Erick Japa.

The victory will instil further confidence among the Panama players, who are no longer the weakest team entering into the World despite the tricky group they find themselves in and the slim chance of causing an upset.

South Korea 1-0 El Salvador

South Korea overcame El Salvador courtesy of attacking midfielder Dong-Gyeong Lee’s brilliant left-footed free kick in the 57th minute of their final match before taking on Czechia in their first World Cup outing.

It ends a very positive run of friendlies for the Taeguk Warriors, who romped to first place in both their six-team strong first round and second round qualifying group, suffering just three defeats in 10 friendlies since last September.

Iran 2-0 Mali

Finally, Iran beat Mali 2-0 behind closed doors as they too finalise their preparations for what will likely prove a challenging tournament given the external factor of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

However, this was mitigated by the decision on behalf of the Mexican government to host the Iranian national team between their three group stage matches back in May.

It came after the Iranian administration’s appeal for their fixtures to be played in Mexico instead of the US were refused by FIFA, with the nation now commuting to all of their matches.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that there was “no reason” to refuse the request from Iran’s national team to reside there, with Iran’s sports minister Ahmad Donyamali confirming the team would be granted visas to compete.

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