The results were friendly: England, Uruguay, Spain, Holland and Norway

The technical tests of the World Cup clearly say that the nobles of football are always the same, or almost. In the friendlies less than three months before the tournament, none of the big national teams scored, with the exception of England who were joined in the final by Uruguay. For the rest, Holland overtakes Norway, Germany puts on a show against Switzerland and Spain overcomes Serbia. The lack of stakes and some absences do not give a faithful picture of what will be seen in Canada, Mexico and the United States, but be careful not to underestimate certain clues.

England-Uruguay 1-1

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If Thomas Tuchel wanted to learn something about his England, this friendly against Uruguay was certainly not the right match. The 1-1 is a final blow, first the advantage of the Three Lions with Ben White, who after three and a half years of voluntary exile in the 81st minute scores an empty goal after a series of rebounds from a corner, and then with the penalty that Federico Valverde converts into an equalizer, awarded after VAR review for a foul by White himself on Federico Vinas. At the end also comes the thrill of a double save in the area by Harry Maguire, in Celeste’s best moment when Marcelo Bielsa finally gets up from his inevitable fridge. A draw is the fairest result for this trial friendly: Tuchel has fielded many who have to earn the World Cup, starting with AC Milan player Fikayo Tomori, who started and played for 69 minutes in his first with England in two and a half years. He may well have increased his chances of leaving for the USA, unlike Dominik Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, both dull as deputy Kane. Phil Foden was also disappointing as he wasted a chance as a number 10. Uruguay now moves to Turin for Tuesday’s friendly against Algeria. England instead finds its best pieces, starting with Harry Kane and Declan Rice, for a friendly match with Japan in which Tuchel hopes to see something better from a team that wants to win the World Cup compared to this lackluster draw.

show in basel

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Let’s start with the most incredible match of the evening. In Basel it was Switzerland who broke the deadlock with Ndoye, Tah equalised, Embolo put the Swiss back ahead and Gnabry restored parity before the final whistle. After the two assists served, Wirtz took charge in the second half: he went to the net, momentarily thwarted by Monteiro, and then scored a brace that set the score at 3-4. Norway seemed to be able to do without Haaland when they took the lead against the Netherlands with Schjelderup, but Van Dijk made it 1-1. At the start of the second half, Reijnders was the author of the decisive extension.

Spain on velvet

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The 3-0 with which Spain got rid of Serbia is not surprising. The cover man of the evening is Oyarzabal, creator of two goals in the first half which largely steered the match. Muñoz puts the exclamation point about twenty minutes from the end. Austria overwhelms Ghana (5-1), Montenegro beats Andorra 2-0. In the rest of the world, Algeria’s 7-0 win over Guatemala and Egypt’s poker win over Saudi Arabia stand out.

England-Uruguay 1-1: 81′ White (I), 90+4′ pen. Valverde (U)

Spain-Serbia 3-0: 16′ and 43′ Oyarzabal, 72′ Muñoz

Netherlands-Norway 2-1 24′ Schjelderup (N), 35′ Van Dijk (W), 51′ Reijnders (W)

Switzerland-Germany 3-4: 17′ Ndoye (S), 26′ Tah (G), 41′ Embolo (S), 45+2′ Gnabry (G), 61′ Wirtz (G), 79′ Monteiro (S), 85′ Wirtz (G)

Austria-Ghana 5-1: 12′ pen. Sabitzer (A), 51′ Gregoritsch (A), 59′ Posch (A), 77′ Ayew (G), 79′ Chukwuemeka (A), 90+2′ Seiwald (A)

Montenegro-Andorra 2-0: 41′ pen. Mugosa, 80′ Osmajic