INTERNATIONAL MATCHES: SPAIN 5 VENEZUELA 0:Roberto Soldado scored a hat-trick as Spain demolished Venezuela at La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga last night, boosting his chances of playing against the Republic of Ireland at Euro 2012.
The Valencia striker, who replaced Chelsea’s Fernando Torres in Vincente del Bosque’s squad for the friendly, netted all three goals in the second half.
Andres Iniesta opened the scoring in the 37th minute and David Silva got the second five minutes before half time.
CROATIA 1 SWEDEN 3:Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave a terrific performance against Ireland's European Championship opponents Croatia, scoring one goal and setting up two for Sebastian Larsson.
Ibrahimovic fired the Swedes ahead with a 13th-minute penalty before a Jonas Olsson own goal put the home team level on the stroke of half-time on a chilly night at the Maksimir stadium.
It was then one-way traffic after that though as Ibrahimovic delivered two defence-splitting passes for Larsson and twice the substitute showed clinical finishing to give keeper Stipe Pletikosa no chance.
ITALY 0 USA 1:The United States pulled off a historic first win over Italy – another of Ireland's European Championship opponents – last night in Genoa.
Fulham striker Clint Dempsey’s 55th-minute goal was the difference between the two sides at the Luigi Ferraris stadium.
The Azzurri had numerous chances to equalise but were denied by some good goalkeeping from Everton’s Tim Howard.
GERMANY 1 FRANCE 2:Goals from Olivier Giroud and Florent Malouda gave France an impressive victory over Germany in Bremen last night.
Giroud put the visitors ahead on his full debut as Laurent Blanc’s side played a cagey counter-attacking game, with Malouda adding a second with 20 minutes remaining.
Substitute Cacau pulled one back in the final minute for Germany but France were never threatened.
WALES 0 COSTA RICA 1:Wales were unable to mark the Gary Speed Memorial Match with a victory as Joel Campbell's early goal gave Costa Rica the win on an emotional night at Cardiff City Stadium. Campbell, on loan at Lorient from Arsenal, scored the only goal in the seventh minute as he calmly slotted home from Bryan Ruiz's superb pass.
Striker Steve Morison went closest to an equaliser for Wales as his first-half header struck the bar on a night.
Prior to kick-off there were performances from several Welsh artists, while Speed’s sons Ed and Tom led the side out along with captain for the night Craig Bellamy.
At one end of the ground cards were held aloft to reveal the name “Gary” on the background of a Welsh flag as the anthem was played with a solemn Bellamy arm in arm with his late friend’s sons, while a minute’s applause was also held in honour of Speed and two spontaneous standing ovations took place during the 90 minutes.
SLOVENIA 1 SCOTLAND 1:Christophe Berra's first-half header gave Scotland a solid if uninspiring draw against Slovenia in their friendly at the Bonifika stadium last night. Scotland had fallen behind in the 32nd minute when Andraz Kirm headed home.
