Originally Posted by BBC Sport

International Round-up: 12/8


To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


Jermain Defoe struck twice as England came from two goals down at the interval against the Netherlands to earn a creditable draw in Amsterdam.

Dirk Kuyt and Rafael Van der Vaart punished errors by Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry to give the Dutch control.

But Defoe came off the bench to race clear and pull a goal back after 49 minutes to give England hope.

And he steered in a cross from fellow substitute James Milner with 13 minutes left as England finished strongly.

England coach Fabio Capello will have mixed feelings about the performance of his side - and will demand the basic errors that cost two goals be eradicated as the build up continues towards what he hopes will be a serious World Cup challenge in South Africa next summer.

Scotland's World Cup dream was left on a knife edge after they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of an Egil Olsen-inspired Norway.

Gary Caldwell was sent off after 33 minutes and John Arne Riise scored from the resulting deflected free-kick.

Morten Gamst Pedersen drove in the second on the stroke of half-time.

Erik Huseklepp turned in the third and Pedersen fired in a free-kick as coach Olsen's Norway revived their chances of reaching the play-offs from Group Nine.

Defeat means Scotland will probably now need to win their two remaining matches, at home to Macedonia and group winners Netherlands, to make those matches as one of the best-placed runners-up.

Australia dented Republic of Ireland confidence for next month's World Cup qualifier in Cyprus with a thumping win in the friendly at Thomond Park.

Giovanni Trapattoni had all his main players available but the Irish never recovered from a sloppy first half.

Mark Schwarzer denied Robbie Keane but Tim Cahill netted in the 38th and 44th minutes to put the Aussies in control.

Keith Andrews hit a post and Sean St Ledger went close for the Irish before David Carney's late Australian strike.

A sloppy defensive performance saw Wales fall to defeat against the world's 96th-ranked team, Montenegro.

Danny Gabbidon, back for Wales after 18 months out injured, conceded a penalty, converted by the superb Stevan Jovetic.

Rob Earnshaw had chances to get Wales level, but on the stroke of half-time Simon Vukcevic's pass exposed Gabbidon and Radomir Djalovic finished superbly.

Replacement Sam Vokes scored with a powerful header from a Sam Ricketts cross, but that was Wales' last chance.

Northern Ireland warmed up for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers with a draw in this Windsor Park friendly.

Chris McCann curled a free-kick into the corner of the net to give Nigel Worthington's side an 18th minute lead.

Elyaniv Barda equalised eight minutes later with a close-range finish before Damien Johnson headed Tamir Cohen's header off the line.

Jonathan Tuffey saved from Roberto Colautti's shot while Kyle Lafferty headed over in the dying minutes.