Meanwhile, in Manchester, Sven-Goran Eriksson¡¯s men proved too strong for Hungary despite the continued absence of wunderkind Wayne Rooney and ran out 3-1 winners. The home side¡¯s goals came courtesy of headers from midfielder Steven Gerrard and defender John Terry, plus a smart finish on 83 minutes by towering substitute Peter Crouch.

During the second half, the Swede paired up Crouch and the young debutant Theo Walcott in a brand-new attacking duo, but the England coach still has Saturday's friendly against Jamaica at Old Trafford to finalise his preferred forward line-up.

For the Polish side, beaten 2-1 by Colombia on Tuesday, the situation is decidedly more worrying. Elkin Murillo and Luis Martinez - the Colombian goalkeeper! - got the goals for the South Americans with Martinez profiting from a huge punt upfield that bounced over the head of goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, while Ireneusz Jelen salvaged some pride for the Poles in the final minute. Already beaten 1-0 at the start of the month by Lithuania, Pawel Janas¡¯ charges go into Saturday¡¯s daunting encounter with Croatia having claimed just one warm-up victory so far, a 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands.

Three days after their initial test against Switzerland which ended 1-1, C?te d'Ivoire recorded the same score in their South American clash against Chile in Vittel.

This time, it was the Africans who opened the scoring through a penalty from Aruna Dindane (71 mins), only to be pegged back six minutes later by Humberto Suazo. Considering it was a friendly, the match was a fairly feisty affair, as the four yellow cards dished out to Henri Michel¡¯s men testify. For the Elephants, the next exam comes on 4 June against Slovenia.

With their Group H encounter with Ukraine in mind, Tunisia treated their friendly with Belarus like a bona fide FIFA World Cup match. The goals that gave the reigning African champions their 3-0 win were scored by the returning Hamed Namouchi from the penalty spot, then Francileudo Santos and Issam Jomaa in added time.

Their committed approach to this encounter was exemplified by the dismissal of Karim Haggui for two yellow card offences. Brazil, incidentally, enjoyed an 8-0 stroll in the park against Swiss club Lucerne, with Ronaldo and Adriano firing two goals apiece