Higuain and Banega help Argentina edge out Italy

Argentina made light of the absence of leading forward Lionel Messi to beat Italy 2-1 in an entertaining friendly in Rome last night.

The South Americans dominated the early stages in front of a half-full Olympic Stadium and Gonzalo Higuain put them ahead after 20 minutes with a curling shot after a sloppy error by Italian Daniele De Rossi.

Argentina went 2-0 up when substitute Ever Banega fired home a fierce low shot from the edge of the area just three minutes after coming on at the start of the second half. Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back for Italy against the run of play with a sweetly struck curling shot from outside the area on 76 minutes, setting up a spirited finale by the hosts.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired out a warning to the Republic of Ireland with a hat-trick in Sweden’s 4-2 friendly defeat of neighbours Norway in Stockholm. The Irish host the Swedes in a vital World Cup qualifier next month and keeping the Paris St Germain frontman, who famously scored four against England last year, quiet will be their prime concern.

Ibrahimovic struck twice in the first half hour at the Friends Arena but Norway were level at the break after a Mohammed Abdellaoue penalty and a Stefan Johansen effort. Ibrahimovic soon restored the advantage, though, and Anders Svensson wrapped up the win.

The other team contender in Ireland’s group, Austria, lost 2-0 at home last night to Greece thanks to two goals by Kostas Mitroglou. The Austrians dominated proceedings but were picked off on the counter-attack.

Germany had to recover twice to draw 3-3 against Paraguay in Kaiserslautern with their defence looking more like a work in progress than that befitting World Cup contenders. Germany’s carved out a dozen clear scoring chances but their backline was leaking badly in the first half, letting in three goals.

Goals from Ilkay Guendogan and Thomas Mueller cancelled out Paraguay’s surprise 2-0 lead and Lars Bender levelled late in the game after Miguel Samudio had again put the visitors ahead on the stroke of halftime.

Germany, top of World Cup qualifying Group C with 16 points from six games, host Austria, five points behind, on September 6th before travelling to the Faroe Islands four days later. Sweden and Ireland also have 11 points.