Football
8y

Marcus Rashford nets in debut as England edge Australia; Argentina win

Marcus Rashford scored two minutes into his England debut as the Three Lions defeated Australia 2-1 in a tune-up for this summer's European Championship.

The 18-year-old Rashford continued his meteoric rise from Manchester United obscurity to world stardom with a neat volley from a deflected Raheem Sterling cross just 178 seconds into the match with the Socceroos.

Rashford received the starting opportunity due to a Daniel Sturridge injury earlier in the week as he tries to make his case for Euro 2016 inclusion.

Second-half substitute Wayne Rooney doubled England's advantage 11 minutes after the break. From a counter-attack, the Manchester United midfielder was picked out in space from a fine cross from the left before taking a touch and lashing an unstoppable shot into Maty Ryan's near-post top corner from just outside the box.

Rashford was taken off in the 63rd minute to rousing applause from the appreciative fans at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

Australia pulled a goal back 15 minutes before time through an Eric Dier own goal. The Tottenham man had just come on for Chris Smalling before heading a cross past Fraser Forster and into the England net.

Gonzalo Higuain scored as Argentina beat Honduras in their final friendly before the Copa America Centenario, though Lionel Messi was forced off with an injury in the second half of the Albiceleste's 1-0 victory.

Higuain settled a pass from Marcos Rojo, cut back across his defender, then chipped Honduras keeper Denis Escober for the only goal of the match.

Messi underwent an tests after leaving the match and looks to have suffered nothing more than a bruise to the lower back.

The Argentine will return to Spain to testify on tax evasion charges on June 2, with the team hopeful he'll return to the squad ahead of their Copa opener versus Chile on June 6.

Edinson Cavani scored twice in the first half as Uruguay beat Trinidad & Tobago 3-1 at the Centenario Stadium.

Jomal Williams had given the visitors an early lead with a seventh-minute goal, but the hosts proved too much. Cavani converted a penalty in the 27th minute and added his second from a corner kick in the 39th.

Uruguay effectively put the match to bed at the start of the second half when Matías Vecino's right-footed shot from close range gave his team a two-goal cushion.

Luis Suarez did not feature in the match, but will be with the team when they open play in the Copa on June 5 against Mexico.

Shane Long signalled his readiness for the Euro 2016 finals as the Republic of Ireland claimed a 1-1 friendly draw against the Netherlands.

The 29-year-old Southampton striker snatched a first-half poacher's goal, his 16th in an Ireland shirt, to help extend his country's unbeaten run to five games with just one more to play against Belarus on Tuesday evening before they head for France.

The Netherlands snatched a share of the spoils with a late Luuk de Jong header, but on a night when his team had to compete with Bruce Springsteen, who was playing a sell-out show along the road at Croke Park, Republic boss Martin O'Neill held a dress rehearsal for the main event next month.

O'Neill will have been happy with much of what he saw as he attempts to whittle down his squad to a final 23 and central defender Shane Duffy and striker David McGoldrick, who prospered in the hole behind the front two, were particularly impressive.

But it was Long who claimed the headlines with another display which demonstrated his growing maturity and ability to produce on the big stage, something which has for so long been Robbie Keane's mantle.

Goals from strikers Kyle Lafferty, Conor Washington and Will Grigg gave Northern Ireland a perfect Belfast send-off before Euro 2016 as they extended their unbeaten run to 11 games with a 3-0 victory over Belarus.

Lafferty notched for the 17th time on the international stage in his 50th cap early on before Washington headed in on the stroke of the interval to make it two goals from two games in Belfast for him.

Neither featured prominently for their parent clubs in the season that just concluded but this was an indication that Michael O'Neill may have found the partnership which will start in the country's first ever European Championship finals.

In-form Wigan forward Grigg, whose viral chant was the song of choice on the Windsor Park terraces throughout, then got the goal the crowd had been begging for as he lashed in his first Northern Ireland strike late on.

O'Neill will reveal his final 23 on Saturday, though it was telling that potential cuts Billy McKay, Liam Boyce, Michael Smith, Daniel Lafferty and Ben Reeves were all missing from the squad having been conspicuous absentees at training on Thursday.

Jaroslav Plasil, Milan Skoda, Roman Hubnik, David Lafata, Tomas Necid and Patrik Schick all scored as the Czech Republic thrashed Malta 6-0 at the Kufstein Arena in Kufstein.

Andrej Kramaric's goal helped Croatia clip Moldova 1-0 in Koprivnica. Slovakia slammed Georgia 3-1 thanks to an Adam Nemec brace and another from Adam Zrelak. Levan Kenia scored the consolation for the Georgians.

In Africa, Nigeria beat Mali 1-0, Togo topped Zambia 1-0, and Morocco did away with Congo 2-0. 

Jamaica pulled off a shock 2-1 win against Chile, with Clayton Donaldson and Joel Grant providing the scoring for the visitors.

The defending Copa champs were already down 2-0 when Nicolas Castillo scored to halve the deficit.

Press Association contributed to this report.

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