FOOTBALL – Egypt turned a tough international friendly into a statement win, beating Saudi Arabia 4-0 at Alinma Stadium in Jeddah yesterday.
The visitors were clinical, scoring three before halftime and adding a fourth soon after the break.
Saudi Arabia had more of the ball, more passes and more entries into the final third, but finished with zero shots on target.
Egypt made their moments count and managed the game well from front to back.
Egypt struck early. Islam Issa opened the scoring in the 4th minute after a Zizo assist. Mahmoud Trezeguet doubled the lead in the 16th minute from Mohamed Hany’s delivery.
Zizo then made it 3-0 right before the interval, finishing a move created by Emam Ashour in the 44th minute.
At halftime, Egypt had five shots on target to Saudi Arabia’s none and all three big chances converted.
Omar Marmoush added the fourth in the 56th minute after a neat pass from Ahmed Fatouh.
Egypt rotated smartly afterward, bringing on Mostafa Mohamed, Rami Rabia, Mahmoud Saber and others to see it out.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Florian Wirtz scored two goals, including an 86th-minute winner, and set up two more as his team came twice from a goal down to beat hosts Switzerland 4-3 as both sides continued their preparations for the World Cup in June.
The 22-year-old Wirtz put the visitors 3-2 up just past the hour with a stunning 18-metre curled effort and bagged the winner with another spectacular strike from the edge of the box in an entertaining game.
In a pulsating first half, the hosts scored against the run of play through Dan Ndoye in the 17th minute following a defensive error by Nico Schlotterbeck before Germany’s Jonathan Tah levelled with a header.
The Swiss, who are in World Cup Group B with Qatar, co-hosts Canada and a playoff spot winner, scored with their next effort on goal in the 41st minute when Breel Embolo caught the German defence napping but the visitors levelled again on the stroke of halftime courtesy of Serge Gnabry’s chip from a superb Wirtz assist.
Wirtz, who has been struggling for form in his first season at Liverpool, then took matters into his own hands, curling a stunning shot from the edge of the box into the top corner just past the hour.
This time it was the hosts’ turn to level in the 82nd minute when Joel Monteiro beat two defenders and drilled home before Wirtz silenced the home crowd with anotxerlandther curled effort that left keeper Gregor Kobel frozen on the spot.
Germany have been drawn in World Cup Group E with Ecuador, Curacao and Ivory Coast.
Later, England failed to win for only the second time in head coach Thomas Tuchel’s reign when Uruguay’s Federico Valverde converted a stoppage-time penalty to earn his side a 1-1 draw.
Tuchel’s side appeared to be on course for a 10th win in 11 under the German when substitute Ben White marked his return to England duty with a tap-in after 81 minutes.
The Arsenal defender, making his first appearance since leaving England’s World Cup camp in 2022 and going into self-imposed international exile, was booed by the home crowd when he came off the bench and again after scoring.
White then turned villain as he was adjudged to have fouled Federico Vinas in the area after a VAR check and Valverde stepped up to beat James Trafford from the spot in the 94th minute.
Striker Mikel Oyarzabal got two superb first-half goals and substitute Victor Munoz scored on his senior international debut as Spain cruised to a 3-0 win over Serbia.
With Serbia stepping into the breach after Spain’s original plan to play Argentina in Qatar was derailed by the ongoing conflict in the Gulf, Oyarzabal gave Spain the lead with a well-struck effort in the 16th minute after some superb pin-point passing in the build-up.
Oyarzabal netted his second goal with a tremendous shot from the edge of the box in the 44th minute and though Spain dominated for most of the game, it took until the 72nd minute for them to find the net again, Munoz scoring after being teed up by a brilliant back-heel from Ferran Torres.
Spain will compete in Group H of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicking off against Cape Verde on June 15 before going on to meet Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.
The Netherlands fought back to edge Norway 2-1 with Tijjani Reijnders delivering the winner at the Amsterdam Arena.
Norway held off early Dutch pressure to open the scoring in the 24th minute through Andreas Schjelderup but home captain Virgil van Dijk levelled 10 minutes before the break.
Reijnders’s winner came in the 51st minute as the Dutch ramped up the pressure on a Norwegian team playing without Erling Haaland or Martin Odegaard.
Schjelderup’s goal was an outstanding individual effort as he cut in off the left flank, teasing Dutch fullback Denzel Dumfries before gliding inside past him and unleashing a shot that gave goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen no chance.
An equaliser always looked likely after that but Norway will be disappointed with Van Dijk easily climbing above their defence to head home from a corner for his 12th international goal.
Donyell Malen was narrowly wide minutes after the break after a speedy combination with Cody Gakpo but it did not take long for the Dutch to go ahead.
Gakpo stole possession in the midfield before Dumfries took over possession and fed Reijnders, who was right in front of goal and able to thrash the ball into the back of the net.
A multitude of changes after the hour mark took the steam out of the clash.
Norway brought on five substitutes in a single swoop and between the two sides they made a total of 12 changes.
There was a late chance for Norway as striker Jorgen Strand Larsen’s audacious back heel from a strong square pass almost deceived Verbruggen, who scrambled to keep it out.
The Dutch, now unbeaten in their last 13 outings, next host Ecuador in Eindhoven on Tuesday while Switzerland visit Norway in Oslo the same night as the sides continue their preparations for the World Cup.
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