Published>Thu, Nov 18 10 04:48 AM
Lionel Messi scored a classic individual goal in stoppage time to give Argentina a 1-0 win over Brazil in Doha in the standout game of a busy night of international friendlies around the world on Wednesday.
In Europe, there were a clutch of impressive away wins as France beat England 2-1 at Wembley, Belgium upset Russia 2-0, Norway overcame Ireland 2-1 and Greece defeated Austria 2-1.
World Cup runners-up Netherlands beat Turkey 1-0 but several of Europe's other big guns, largely fielding experimental lineups, failed to ignite.
Germany were held to a goalless draw in Sweden, Italy, with four debutants, drew 1-1 with Romania in Austria and Denmark against Czech Republic also ended 0-0.
World champions Spain were playing Portugal later while in the night's two Euro 2012 qualifiers Croatia beat Malta 3-0 and Finland thrashed San Marino 8-0.
The heavyweight South American duel in the desert promised much but delivered little in a cagey 90 minutes.
Double former world player of the year Ronaldinho, left out of Brazil's World Cup squad, looked lively on his comeback and almost scored with a backheel but in the second minute of stoppage time Messi showed why he inherited the crown.
The striker picked his way through a ragged Brazilian defence showing great control before angling a low shot beyond the diving Victor.
It was Argentina's first win over Brazil is six matches since 2005 and gave Sergio Batista a winning start as full-time coach following his three games in charge in an interim capacity.
INEXPERIENCED ENGLAND
France continued their rehabilitation under Laurent Blanc by outplaying an inexperienced England team.
Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena each finished off good passing moves to put the visitors 2-0 up before substitute Peter Crouch maintained his remarkable scoring record with his 22nd goal in 42 internationals seconds after coming on at the death.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is another on a hot streak as he scored his ninth goal in five internationals to earn Netherlands their win over Turkey, heading home a Robin van Persie cross early in the second half.
The Dutch had only five survivors from the team beaten by Spain in the World Cup final four months ago while Turkey coach Guus Hiddink gave five players their debuts.
Seventeen-year-old Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku added to his burgeoning reputation by scoring both goals, his first in internationals, in the 2-0 win over Russia in Voronezh.
The Anderlecht forward scored after two minutes and added another in the second half of a match played as a goodwill gesture by the Russian FA after they poached manager Dick Advocaat in April six months after he had become Belgium coach.
Another 17-year-old had a night to remember in Cape Town as debutant Juan Agudelo scored five minutes from time to give a makeshift United States team a 1-0 win over South Africa.
Paraguay were the biggest friendly winners when they beat Hong Kong 7-0 away, with two goals each for Roque Santa Cruz and Edgar Barreto.
Croatia marked the 20th anniversary of their first match as an independent nation by beating Malta 3-0 with two long-range goals for Niko Kranjcar and one for Nikola Kalinic to go top of Group F, two points ahead of Greece and four ahead of Georgia.
Mikael Forssell hit a second-half hat-trick as Finland hammered San Marino 8-0 in Group E but, having lost their first three matches, they remain the longest of shots to qualify for the finals in Poland and Ukraine.
Netherlands lead the group with a maximum 12 points, ahead of Hungary (nine) and Sweden, on six with a game in hand.
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